Who are the Roma?
Roma is a community of people whose history goes back to the 13th century. Its representatives may have different linguistic belongings and may live in various parts of Europe. Their common feature is poverty and low level of education.
The European Commission determines such four kinds of Roma communities as:
- Those who live with the other minorities and disadvantaged people. They are, usually, concentrated in the suburbs of the cities.
- Those who live in the poor districts near the villages and towns or in the villages themselves.
- The Roma who have European citizenship and move from country to country.
- Refugees, residents of the other countries, those who are looking for the asylum.
The representatives of Roma are particularly numerous in Bulgaria, Macedonia, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia and Hungary. There is no wonder that in addition to the problem of refugees the European Union is also occupied with Roma’s issue.
Roma’s poverty issue and education
The representatives of Roma live below the poverty line, that is why their issue is high on the agenda in the European Union. These people don’t have money for the education and, as a result, cannot find any job.
For the moment, only around 20-25% of Roma children attend schools. Usually, they have difficulties in studying and either leave school or get excluded. They are often discriminated at schools which leads to their demotivation and poor academic results. As a consequence, Roma children don’t enter the universities and suffer from unemployment.
The validation and recognition of non-formally acquired skills might help a lot to solve the poverty and education issues of the Roma community. The non-formal education might help to avoid discrimination of these children and might create favorable conditions for their studies and development. Non-formal education should be affordable, meaning cheap or even free of charge, for them. The point is that the Roma should have the possibility to acquire practical skills, which might help them find a job and live better. The countries should think of the spheres of industry which have the highest demand in specialists and few people willing to work there. Having identified them, they should create special colleges or the pre-factory courses where Romas might get the necessary education and skills to be able to work there. In such a way the issue will be turned into a win-win situation for both the country and the people in need.
