Education in the Roma Mahalla, Kosovo
When I met her, Sheherzade Mustafa was busy browsing her Facebook account and chatting with friends on the Internet. She told me that just two months earlier all she knew was how to turn the computer on and off. She is one of twelve Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian young people who learned to use office software applications in an OSCE computer training course last month.
At the education centre in the Roma Mahalla, a settlement in southern Mitrovicë/Mitrovica, Sheherzade and her colleagues are sharing their new computer skills with the children that attend day care here or come after school for courses. Eventually, she hopes, the skills she acquired in the course will help her find permanent employment.
The Roma Mahalla comprises some 200 households, around 1,000 people. Many have come here from the lead-contaminated camps in northern Mitrovica/Mitrovicë where they ended up after the 1999 conflict when thousands of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian families were displaced within and outside Kosovo. The Česmin Lug camp was closed in 2010 and the Osterode camp is due to be closed in December 2012.
“Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities are the most disadvantaged and marginalized groups in Kosovo, as their basic rights are not respected and they face entrenched prejudices,” says Nikola Petrovski, a Human Dimension Officer at the OSCE Mission in Kosovo.
Sheherzade returned to the Mahalla from the Osterode camp in 2005. She admits that coming back has not been easy for most Roma families. Children have had to learn to communicate in another language; for some of the language of school instruction has switched from Serbian to Albanian. Youth, even those who have had vocational training, remain unable to find jobs, and the older generation, often illiterate and lacking documents or information, still has problems getting social assistance and healthcare.
A shocking 95 per cent of Roma Mahalla residents are unemployed and reliant on handouts from local institutions or international organizations for their livelihood. Often they are not even able to pay utility bills, many living in unacceptable conditions.
The OSCE Mission is educating the residents of the Mahalla about their rights, existing protection mechanisms and possible social assistance entitlements, including free blood tests for lead contamination. By urging municipalities to simplify civil registration procedures, the Mission is helping them to obtain social assistance. It has organized meetings at which residents, the municipality and the police discuss common concerns. As a result, the police have re-established a permanent presence in the Mahalla. The municipality has agreed to facilitate the election of community leaders, as residents feel they are not being properly represented at municipal and other forums.
Emphasis on education
In order to affirm their rights, articulate their concerns, and have a fair chance on the job market, Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities need education. Ultimately, it is education that will help them to find employment and build sustainable livelihoods.
Education, inclusion and equal opportunities: these are crucial to solving problems faced by the Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian communities.
In addition to offering computer courses, the Mission has been working to promote the integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children through inclusive education and awareness-raising among the communities themselves on the importance of education. Since 2010, the Mission has engaged school mediators in nine municipalities in order to encourage school attendance.
As members of the Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian communities, the mediators provide a valuable and culturally sensitive link between their respective communities and educational institutions. They help with school registration, follow up on cases of children not registered on time, monitor attendance, and, most importantly, work with parents to raise awareness and tackle obstacles to education. In 2011, after undertaking a house-to-house campaign, the mediators managed to bring 110 children back to school, including 39 who had already dropped out for the second time.
Education, inclusion and equal opportunities: these are crucial to solving problems faced by the Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian communities. They are goals worth fighting for, every day, Petrovski concludes.