(A proposal to the Department of Ethnic and National Minorities of the Ministry of Culture and Education)
By Ilona Liskó
Source: Educatio, 1996
AN OUTLINE OF THE PRESENT SITUATION
Sociological research proves beyond all doubt that nowadays the distribution of jobs and the sizes of salaries tend to depend on the applicants' or workers' schooling to an extent even larger than before. In other words, people with more schooling are definitely less likely to become unemployed and are better paid. (Kertesi 1994, Györgyi 1994).
Gábor Kertesi has used his analysis of the data provided by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) to prove that the risks of becoming unemployed of those with secondary education, those graduating from vocational secondary schools and those with only primary education are 2.5, 3.5 and 5 times as high as of college or university graduates, respectively. People who have not completed their primary education have to face a risk to become unemployed 10 times as high as college or university graduates (Kertesi 1994).
In 1993 István Kemény and his colleagues conducted a sociological survey on Gypsy people' circumstances (Kemény, Kertesi, Havas 1994), and concluded that nowadays Gypsies have a far higher risk of remaining unable to find work than at the time of the 1970 comprehensive survey. The researchers find that the main causes of this are the following: the backwardness of Gypsies' schooling, the regionally disadvantageous situation of the Gypsy communities (an excessive proportion of the Gypsies live in regions of employment crisis) and social discrimination against them (Kertesi 1994).
As far as the backwardness of Gypsies' schooling is concerned, the researchers have pointed out that even though there has been a significant increase in the proportion of Gypsy pupils' completing their primary education over the past 20 years (44 % of those starting school in the school year 1985/86 have finished the eighth grade), their chances for further education have worsened and they have an increasing risk of dropping out from all types of secondary schools. (At present a Gypsy child has a 50 times smaller chance for graduating from a secondary school and a 6 times smaller chance for obtaining a skilled worker's certificate than their non-Gypsy fellow students. This shows that Gypsies are even farther away from equal opportunities than before, especially in those aspects of schooling that could significantly improve their chances in the labour market (Kertesi 1994).
Understandably, the researchers cited all conclude that it is by the raising of the Gypsy community's level of schooling that their chances within the society and their positions in the labour market may be enhanced.
Undoubtedly, a twofold objective for raising the Gypsy community's level of schooling should be set. Improving the standards of their general education is essential while securing their participation in vocational training in a higher proportion and providing greater chances for them to finish training are also necessary for their attainment within the society and in the labour market.
The efforts to improve the standards of their general education and increase the proportion of Gypsy pupils participating in vocational training are very closely linked. In the last years, Gypsy skilled workers have accounted for a very low proportion within the Hungarian industry. The reasons for this are the following: Firstly, a relatively small number of Gypsy pupils finish primary school, which is a prerequisite for admission to vocational schools. Secondly, even those finishing it have very poor results, which makes it impossible for them to continue any further. Thirdly, even those who start vocational training have a very high chance of dropping out, due to defects in their general education. Yet another difficulty is that the 1993 State Education Act requires the accomplishment of ten instead of eight years of general education for the commencement of vocational training. Thus providing further assistance for Gypsy children becomes indispensable, as the accomplishment of the previously sufficient eight years of general education also proved extraordinarily difficult for them. In other words, we need to acknowledge that in order to increase the proportion of skilled workers among Gypsies it is necessary to intervene during the period of general education, as without providing quality general education, it is impossible to enhance their vocational training.
Furthermore, exceptional significance is to be attributed to vocational training. First of all, because even in today's rather saturated labour market, those with a skilled worker's certificate have a higher chance of finding work than those without it. Secondly, because among the different institutions of secondary education, the one offering vocational training is still relatively the most accessible for Gypsy children. Thirdly, because it will remain impossible to curb the trend of the gradual falling behind of the Gypsy ethnic group and secure their integration into the Hungarian society until a large Gypsy middle class is formed, mostly of skilled workers, who can ensure their own existential security, thus being able to secure the small-scale upward mobility (and a chance to participate in secondary and further education) for the next generation, thus maintaining continuity for Gypsy professionals.
As for the success of the projects, we cannot cling to illusions, as the acute backwardness concerning the schooling and vocational training of Gypsies has several historical, economic, financial and socio-cultural reasons that can hardly if at all be influenced by the educational authorities. Gypsy children's successful vocational training is being hampered by the circumstances described below.
1. Traditionally, Gypsy families have had a bad relationship with schools that they regard as institutions belonging to the majority society. Gypsy parents themselves had little schooling, preserve memories of school failure and are unaware of the behaviour patterns that could enable them to communicate successfully with the school. Consequently, they are unable to co-operate successfully with the school (and the teachers) and their attitude is characterised by fear, insecurity and, when hurt, aggression. Gypsy parents in general are unable to manage their children's schooling, and they are likely to pass their negative attitude on to their children, thus guaranteeing their failure at school at an early stage.
2. Gypsy children must face the prejudices of the majority society in school communities. The pressures, humiliations and failures stemming from this hurt even those children of exceptional abilities who are able to comply with school requirements. However, typically, Gypsy children come from a culturally non-stimulating environment of poor and disordered families and often have linguistic difficulties. They start falling behind at the start of their school career and often have learning difficulties from the very beginning. In their case, the frustration caused by their failure to do well at school together with the rejection by their environment that is full of prejudices often lead to giving up, escaping from the hardships and dropping out from school at an early stage.
3. Among the pupils of vocational schools, even as far as non-Gypsy children are concerned, the ones whose families have a background of vocational training tend to do best. As, in most of the cases, the families of the Gypsy pupils are not among these, they have a higher chance of failure. In addition, socially, the subculture of the community of skilled workers contains a strong element of racial prejudice against Gypsies. (According to a survey carried out among pupils of vocational secondary schools in 1994, 41% of the children classed the Gypsy-Hungarian conflict as one of the most common conflicts in the society. Interviews with pupils of vocational schools prove that a large percentage of the children back skinheads, who hate Gypsies. (Csákó-Liskó 1994) Over the past decades, typically, Gypsies have taken jobs as unskilled auxiliaries assisting skilled workers. The reason for this is that the jobs available for them have mostly been auxiliary positions in the industrial sectors of low prestige, e.g. in the construction industry. Presumably, these traditions also explain why pupils of vocational secondary schools seem reluctant to accept Gypsy children as their fellow pupils, even to an extent larger that in other areas.
4. Even in the socialist era (i.e. the expansion of vocational training), Gypsy children, coming from the lowest social layers, used to have the opportunity to become skilled workers solely in the mass industrial sectors of the lowest prestige. The large state companies organised training for semi-skilled or auxiliary workers under the name of "vocational training" with the intention of later employing the trainees at their own companies. Due to the poor working conditions and the low wages, anybody who applied was admitted to the training courses, and companies even mustered trainees. This was the segment of vocational training that got hit in the worst way by the economic changes that followed the change of the political system. Upon the collapse of the socialist economic structure and the large state companies, it became obvious that there was no demand for this model of vocational training, which trained skilled workers to be employed in the large factories of heavy industry and mechanical engineering. In other words, if the goal of vocational training was not to train a large number of potential unemployed people, training in these sectors needed to undergo serious downsizing. Moreover, the majority (80%) of trainees' workshops in large factories, where pupils had been provided with practical training in the socialist era, also closed down due to the economic changes. The pace of the workshops of small businesses beginning to take part in the process of vocational training did not follow that of collapse of the state training centres in factories of mass industry. (The owners of small businesses are reluctant to take trainees because their businesses are as yet insecure and also due to the lack of incentive schemes.) Thus a place at a training workshop has become a highly demanded, merchandisable commodity within the vocational training system in Hungary. In the last few years, the only way for a pupil to find a place at a training workshop has been to get their parents to "buy one" for them by paying exorbitant "tuition fees" to business owners in an ever-increasing number of professions. As parents from the lower layers of society (e.g. Gypsies) have not been able to do so, the doors of vocational training schools have closed in front of their children, so to speak.
5. Research into educational sociology has proved that the motivation to learn has as great a role in school achievement as student's abilities. However, children coming from Gypsy families tend to have a rather weak motivation to learn. It is so partly because schooling had a fairly unimportant role in their parents' careers, and they do not prove very demanding as far as their children's school results are concerned. Also, the professional attainments of Gypsy families (e.g. the skills of traditional Gypsy professions) are not primarily based on knowledge learnt at school but to a far greater extent on techniques taught by family members while working. In addition, the experience of the last few years seem to have proved that in this incipient stage of capitalism even people of relatively poor social standing may build a more or less successful "career" by utilising clever commercial tricks (finding their ways around the maze of law and order) and by shrewdness, flexibility and resourcefulness, which qualities are not taught in school and do not require school training. This is another reason why ambitious Gypsy parents often come to the conclusion that their children can expect to develop a more successful career if they teach them the professional attainments of their own almost unlawful business activity than if they send them to a school providing vocational training.
6. Even though state education in Hungary is still free of charge, nobody would suppose that sending one's children to school does not cost any money. As a significant part of Gypsy families scrape along on an income that is under the official subsistence level, a new school year is a heavy burden for them (with the rising prices of children's clothing, schoolbooks and study kits and the gradual rising of school lunch fees) even though they receive benefits from the state. It is not in the least surprising that in many cases, financially speaking, it is in the families' interest that their children should drop out from school as early as possible and start earning their living. Since Gypsy families have a higher than average number of children, it is rather frequent that in the family's interest the older daughters abandon their studies and take charge of the upbringing of their younger siblings in order that the parents can go to work.
Maybe this inventory of the current problems clearly shows that the lack of Gypsy children's thorough training is at least as much of an ethnic or minority problem as of a social one. Consequently, a solution to this problem (or the easing of it) can only be found by the closer co-operation of the educational, minority and welfare authorities.
SUGGESTIONS CONCERNING THE METHODS OF PROVIDING SUPPORT
In accordance with the experience of educational financing in Hungary and abroad, it seems expedient to create a separate fund to finance Gypsy children's vocational training, which is to be financed by the Central Budget and managed by the Ministry, thus providing financial support for those concerned, upon their application (through a board of trustees).
It seems vital to set certain basic principles before deciding on the actual method of providing support. These include defining whom to consider to be a Gypsy child. In this respect it may seem best to follow these guidelines: as far as supporting individuals is concerned, those who regard themselves as Gypsies are to be accepted while when supporting schools, the education of the children whom the school regards as Gypsies should be supported.
The target group of the programmes should be those having an interest in Gypsy children's vocational training. In other words, we ought to initiate programmes that on the one hand provide assistance for schools and teachers in achieving better results in the vocational training of Gypsy children and can also make them interested in providing greater care for these children while on the other hand we ought to make the children (and parents) interested in adopting a more positive attitude towards the school and studying.
As the prerequisite of starting vocational training is the accomplishment of 10 classes of general education, it seems reasonable that the supporting of Gypsy children's education should not be confined to the years of vocational training but take effect while the children study in grades 9 and 10.
There exist at least five different forms of vocational training within the Hungarian educational system (speciális szakiskola - short-term vocational school, szakiskola - vocational school, szakmunkásképzo iskola - trade school, szakközépiskola - vocational secondary school and technikum - industrial technical school), thus the programmes should be advertised in a way which makes it possible for any of these institution and for children educated in any of them to participate.
Since the Hungarian educational system is a pluralistic one as far as the operation of the educational institutions is concerned (schools are operated by the state, churches and foundations), the programme should be organised in a way that makes the support available for any of these.
In order that the support should reach the children who are mostly in need, when providing support for institutions, the group of institutions receiving support should be restricted to those institutions or groups (classes) within an institution where the ratio of Gypsy children is over 30%.
Within the framework of this programme we should mainly concentrate on giving support that, apart from helping their more adequate education at present, provide assistance for Gypsy children in handling their problems with greater success in the long run.
Taking all the above factors into consideration, we suggest that the following forms of support should be offered:
1. In certain cases, Gypsy children's successful general education (i.e. the accomplishment of 9 or 10 classes) and vocational training requires coaching programmes and special pedagogical methods. Considering this, it is necessary to provide support for both the school operators who wish to establish special institutions for this purpose and for the institutions which are running groups (classes) of this kind.
(This form of support could provide the opportunity to apply for operators and existing institutions.)
2. In several cases, the failure of Gypsy children's participation in vocational training is due to the fact that the prejudices of the majority society make it impossible for them to integrate into the communities of student hostels, although staying there would be necessary for them to be able to study in a vocational school in a big town. In fact, it is the lack of suitable accommodation that hampers their vocational training in these cases. Considering this, it seems imminent to urge the establishment of special hostels for Gypsy students and support the running of such institutions (even those with accommodation for a small number of students). Accommodation in a special hostel would grant Gypsy children an environment that is free from the prejudices of the majority society while their vocational training could be run integrated into the majority society. The establishment of special Gypsy hostels would also provide an opportunity to compensate for the insufficiencies of the cultural heritage within the family and provide coaching in order to help the children achieve better results at school. (This form of support could provide the opportunity to apply for those wishing to establish or run these kinds of institutions.)
3. It is a peculiarity of the education of Gypsy children in Hungary that the programmes organised for supporting them have always been characterised by the use of more meagre and insufficient resources than the average. For this reason, it is necessary that by the assistance of the programmes managed by the Ministry, the conditions in the institutions that train Gypsy children should be improved, both materially and concerning personnel. By the improvement of the material conditions we mainly mean the purchase of modern educational aids (teachers' manuals, printed curricula, textbooks, visual aids, tools and equipment to be used at the practice lessons of vocational training, computers, etc.) while on the personnel side we find it necessary to employ extra staff consisting of coaching tutors, experts of socio-pedagogy, psychologists and pedagogical assistants to help the teachers' work.
(This form of support could provide the opportunity to apply for entire schools as well as organisational units, i.e. classes within the schools.
4. The special pedagogical skills to be used when dealing with Gypsy children are hardly incorporated in the curriculum of teacher training as yet, so a lot of teachers are professionally unprepared when facing this unexpected task. For this reason, programmes providing up-to-date and ready-to-use professional guidance on dealing with Gypsy children's special problems within the framework of both teacher training in colleges and universities and further training for practising teachers should be supported.
(This form of support could provide the opportunity to apply for colleges and universities, institutions that provide educational services, teachers' professional associations and local governments.)
5. One of the main obstacles to the vocational training of Gypsy children is their parents' inability to "buy" them places in training workshops. Because of this, their application is rejected even by the vocational schools that would otherwise admit them, taking their abilities and previous school results into consideration. In order to change this disagreeable situation we recommend that either a system of support that compensates for the financial situation of the children's family should be established or financial support should be provided for craftsmen and owners of businesses on condition that they are ready to participate in the training of Gypsy children. (This form of support could provide the opportunity to apply for craftsmen and owners of small businesses.)
6. And lastly, another frequent problem in connection with Gypsy children's education is that they lack the proper family background and consequently the motivation that could help them adopt a positive attitude towards learning and schools. Very often, their vocational training is simply made difficult by the fact that their families cannot afford to do without the modicum income that they could earn by taking temporary jobs instead of studying. For this reason, these programmes should aim at strengthening their motivation to study and removing the obstacles that impede their learning by providing grants as a form of financial support for Gypsy children studying in grades 9 and 10 of the general education system and in vocational schools.
(This form of support could provide the opportunity to apply for the children themselves.)
APPENDIX
THE PROGRAMME FOR ENHANCING GYPSY PUPILS' EDUCATION
I. THE CURRENT SITUATION OF THE EDUCATION OF GYPSY PUPILS
(A GENERAL SURVEY)
1. THE RANGE OF PROBLEMS THAT THE GYPSY ETHNIC GROUP FACES
While the particular educational problems that national minorities need to face are basically of linguistic and cultural nature, Gypsy pupils' education is confronted with the challenges of a large set of problems, whose origins are far beyond the scope of general education. There is not a single sphere of some importance concerning the situation of Gypsy people that is not affected by crisis. A large part of the Gypsy ethnic group live at or near subsistence level. The ratio of unemployment among them is substantially higher than the national average due to the segregation in the labour market. The state of their health and housing is extremely bad. The backwardness of their education as compared to the majority population is becoming greater and greater. Their cultural traditions are gradually disappearing. Their traditional forms of social organisation have already disappeared and its modern forms are just beginning to establish themselves. In addition to all these factors, the prejudices of the majority society have a greater and greater impact on their lives.
All these distressing circumstances signalling a crisis cannot be regarded or treated as separate problems. The disadvantages that Gypsy people have to face stem from and reinforce each other. They constitute a range of problems that are impossible not only to eliminate, but also to comprehend without taking their correlation into account.
This needs to be mentioned to make it apparent that tackling the issue of Gypsy pupils' education is impossible solely within the framework of public education. This issue has to be confronted with the whole range of problems that Gypsy people face. Viewing it from this perspective, education is undoubtedly of supreme importance for the Gypsies. This is the only area whose development may make it possible to eliminate the whole range of problems in the long run, as education has widespread effects: directly affecting Gypsy people's position in the labour market and through that in all the areas mentioned above.
2. GYPSY PUPILS IN THE SYSTEM OF PUBLIC EDUCATION
2.1. The number of Gypsy pupils and their advancement in public education
In the school year 1992/93 (the last school year in which the Ministry of Culture
and Education collected statistical data on the number of Gypsy pupils), 74,241
pupils, i.e. 7.12% of the primary school pupils were of Gypsy origin. The distribution
of Gypsy pupils in primary schools according to counties - in accordance with
the geographical distribution of the Gypsy population of nearly 500.000 in Hungary
- is rather disproportionate. Their proportion is far higher than the national
average in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Heves, Nógrád,
Somogy, Szabolcs-Szatmár and Szolnok Counties. Similarly, the distribution
of Gypsy pupils according to the type of settlement is also disproportionate
with 56% learning in schools in small villages.
70% of Gypsy pupils go to schools where the ratio of Gypsy pupils is over 10%.
There were 1061 such schools in Hungary in 1992. In 42% of these schools, the
ratio of Gypsy pupils was over 22%. In contrast, nearly 50% of non-Gypsy children
go to schools where the ratio of Gypsy pupils is under 2%. This shows the rather
strong segregation of Gypsy pupils at schools.
The clearest picture of the changes in the schooling of the Gypsy population can be obtained by comparing the results of the national representative surveys of 1971 and 1993. According to the data collected in 1971, 26% of the Gypsy people then belonging to the age group 25 to 29 had finished the 8 grades of primary school, while by 1993 that proportion within the same age group had risen to 77%. The percentage of those (23%) who had not accomplished their primary education is still impermissibly high, still at this level of education the difference between the Gypsy population and the majority population had decreased. Still, on the whole, we can observe the widening of the gap between the two groups considering that while the proportion of those with vocational or secondary education grew conspicuously in Hungary in the 1980s, only 13% of the Gypsy population had a certificate of vocational training and only 1% had passed the final examination of secondary education according to the 1993 survey. (By now even a certificate of vocational training proves rather insufficient as far as finding a job is concerned, as the restructuring of vocational training hardly followed the dramatic changes in the labour market, which means that a large number of potentially unemployed people is being trained in vocational schools.) Thus, the data above shows that Gypsy pupils' chances of getting admission to secondary education have not improved in the least bit since 1971!
2.2 THE REASONS OF GYPSY PUPILS' FAILURE AT SCHOOL
If we compare the achievement ratios of schools educating a large number of Gypsy pupils with those of other schools, we find the former ones far worse. They are characterised by a high proportion of pupils' failing to fulfil the requirements and repeating classes and a large number of over-age pupils. Analysts find that the most important cause of Gypsy pupils' poor achievement is not the low quality of education at these schools. On the contrary, the high proportion of Gypsy pupils has an adverse effect on the achievement ratios. The main reason for Gypsy pupils' bad achievement at school is not the disadvantageous educational situation of their towns or villages or the low quality ratios of their schools but Gypsy children's poor pre-school socialisation within the families. The socialisation of Gypsy children in their early childhood does not secure school success for them and their schools are not able to help them adapt to the circumstances either: one pattern of socialisation gets contrasted with a different one at school. Therapy providing assistance in reaching the maturity necessary for school education for Gypsy children in itself cannot solve the problem if it is not accompanied with "therapy" that directs itself towards adapting to schooling. Apart from making Gypsy children suitable for fulfilling the expectations of schools, schools should also become suitable for being able to handle the differences that stem from the subculture of poverty and from belonging to a minority group.
The prevailing attitude of Gypsy families towards schools is negative. One of the reasons for this is the parents' previous failure at school while another is that the school is an institution of gádzsó (non-Gypsy) society. This does not only manifest itself in the school's expectations that seem extraneous in view of the Gypsy tradition and culture but also, and more importantly, in the prejudice of the pupils and even teachers belonging to the majority society. These problems adversely affect children of fair or exceptional abilities, and multiply so those of average or poorer abilities. Thus and so Gypsy children's originally low motivation to learn weakens and in the case of a large number of 7th or 8th grade pupils this leads to estrangement from the school and even dropping out. A reason for this is that at this age their families treat Gypsy children as young adults while they feel that they are treated as very small children at school. (The dropping out of Gypsy pupils is of substantially higher proportions than that of the non-Gypsy pupils in primary as well as in vocational and secondary schools.)
Failure at school and abandoning their studies at a young age has social reasons, too. Free education does not mean free nurseries, schoolbooks, study kits, clothing or food. A large proportion of Gypsy families living on the breadline cannot afford to shoulder these burdens, and they also need the children's assistance in earning the family's living.
3. EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES FOR GYPSY PUPILS
3.1. COACHING PROGRAMMES FOR GYPSY PUPILS
Since 1991, the local governments maintaining educational institutions have had the right to apply for supplementary normative support for organising coaching programmes for Gypsy pupils. As the regulations do not precisely define the required curriculum of such programmes and schools are not provided with curricula or textbooks specially compiled for Gypsy educational programmes, the organisers of the programmes have set a wide range of different objectives and applied organisational and curricular solutions of different kinds.
Coaching programmes are partly integrated, i.e. in some schools Gypsy pupils are not segregated from the rest of the pupils. The programmes are often based on tests conducted at the beginning of the school year, according to the results of which the different coaching, assistance or special tutoring programmes are conducted throughout the school year. Individual coaching is often provided to develop pupils' speaking, reading or writing skills, while coaching for small groups is usually organised for each school subject separately. Generally, teachers provide two hours of coaching per student. The total number of sessions is higher for pupils in grades 1 to 4 than in grades 5 to 8.
The organisationally differentiated programmes providing support for certain separate groups of Gypsy pupils are usually conducted along with integrated solutions. Mostly, they are arranged by schools if, for a certain reason (e.g. pupils having a poor command of Hungarian or being over-age), a part of the Gypsy pupils greatly differ from their schoolmates. The differentiated programmes offer a large scope of activities, too. The possible solutions include afternoon activities in small groups, achievement groups dealing with one school subject, groups learning Hungarian in a higher than average number of lessons, joint activities for pupils in grades 1 to 4, skills development classes, special classes for over-age student of different grades run every four years and running a pre-school preparatory grade.
Even special tutoring programmes are organised for talented pupils, though they are quite rare. They have different forms such as development programmes for individual pupils, activity groups, preparation for school contests and the support of music school tuition.
One of the most important shortcomings of the regulations concerning providing support according to the number of minority pupils is that they do not oblige schools to teach pupils Gypsy civilisation, culture and traditions. This would be a necessary part of educating Gypsy pupils, similarly to the case of national minorities. Making this kind of education generally available could heighten Gypsy children's self-esteem, enhance their emancipation within the school community and, in certain cases, could lead to the amelioration of the relationship between Gypsy parents and the school.
Although no regulation prescribes it, some schools provide their pupils with the opportunity to study the Gypsy culture. In most of the cases this happens outside the regular curriculum in afternoon activity groups, special club sessions or incorporated in the activities of folk music, folk dance or drama groups run by the school.
3.2. MINORITY EDUCATION FOR GYPSY PUPILS
At present, there exist 15 educational institutions that provide kindergarten and/or primary school education for the Gypsy minority in Hungary, which number is rather humble, taking the size of the Gypsy population into consideration. Four of these are operated by foundations or associations while the other eleven are operated by local governments.
The educational programmes of these institutions are greatly varied. Some of them consider special coaching and tutoring to be their most important tasks. Other institutions try to prepare pupils for coping with the challenges of the labour market or for admission to institutions of secondary/higher education. Some tailor their educational programmes to suit the characteristics of the Gypsy children, who form the majority of the pupils in the institution. An outstanding example among the educational institutions of the Gypsy minority is Gandhi High School and Students' Hostel in Pécs, under construction but functioning since 1994, which provides six and a half years of tuition.
A common characteristic feature of all the institutions that have a Gypsy educational programme is that apart from helping Gypsy pupils at school, they also intend to overcome the challenges of the whole range of problems that Gypsy people face. Regular feedback from them and the analysis of the effects of their activities would provide aid for outlining practicable models for the education of Gypsy pupils. Another characteristic feature of these institutions is that all of them strongly emphasise the importance of providing information on and preserving the Gypsy culture.
Each and every one of these institutions struggle with financial difficulties. Apart from the individual problems, the main reason in each case is that they need to provide welfare services to a much larger extent than the average lest they might lose their pupils. They reimburse their students' travel fares, provide them with free schoolbooks and study kits and ask for very little or no money at all in return for food and accommodation. They receive no state subsidies to cover these rather high welfare expenses.
II. THE PROGRAMME FOR ENHANCING GYPSY PUPILS' EDUCATION
1. THE STRATEGIC AIMS OF THE PROGRAMME
The strategic aim of the Programme is to provide the conditions that are necessary to compensate for the backwardness that Gypsy pupils need to cope with and to enhance their chances of school success within the whole range of the public education system. In order to achieve this aim it is necessary to establish a system of protective and preferential measures at three junctures of public education:
1. It is necessary to assist Gypsy pupils in adapting to schooling by enhancing and supporting kindergarten, pre-school and primary school coaching programmes. At the same time - primarily by organising training programmes for practising teachers - it is necessary to enhance the capability of schools for providing such assistance.
2. It is necessary to secure that a significantly larger proportion of Gypsy pupils receive school education and fully accomplish their primary studies during the period of compulsory schooling than at present by developing coaching programmes and building up and operating a network of special tutoring.
3. It is necessary to secure that a significantly larger proportion of Gypsy pupils receive secondary comprehensive education or vocational training and fully accomplish these studies by building up and operating a network of tutoring programmes and hostels and providing grants for pupils.
2. THE MAIN CONSTITUENTS OF THE PROGRAM
In order to achieve its strategic aims the Programme provides support for the following programmes and calls for the development of these conditions:
1. Support pedagogical, linguistic, ethnological, historical etc. research
in order to modernise the contents of Gypsy education.
2. Update the curricula, schoolbooks and study aids used in different Gypsy
educational programmes and institutions.
3. Modernise and support kindergarten and pre-school preparatory programmes
to assist children in reaching the maturity necessary for school education.
4. Modernise and support coaching programmes for pupils with poor school results.
5. Outline a network of countrywide tutoring programmes and hostels for the
pupils.
6. Improve the system of grants for pupils in public and tertiary education.
7. Support teacher training and similar programmes in tertiary education.
8. Organise and support training programmes for practising teachers, social
workers and educational counsellors.
9. Support the Gypsy minority's educational institutions.
10. Develop and support intercultural educational programmes.
11. Develop pedagogical/professional services.
2.1. RESEARCH
It is necessary to allocate funds for the Research Centre of the National Institute of Public Education (OKI) for having the research indispensable for the modernisation of Gypsy education carried out in through tenders and by engaging researchers and experts.
A research committee needs to be established by inviting the educational experts and representatives of the Romani Research Institute, the university and college departments concerned and other research organisations in order to establish the top priorities of a research programme of several years of length and put forward recommendations in connection with the tenders and the research commissions.
2.2. UPDATING CURRICULA AND PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENT
It is necessary to allocate funds for the Office of Curriculum and Programme Development for Minorities of the National Institute of Public Education (OKI) so that it can finance the setting up of a variety of different Gypsy educational programmes within the school curriculum and organise the projects necessary for their development. The development concerning the contents of the educational programmes should have the following primary objectives:
- Collect and assess the programmes and curricula currently in use.
- Update the curricula, textbooks, schoolbooks, teachers' manuals and study
aids used in the education of the Gypsy culture.
- Update the curricula, teachers' manuals, manuals and study aids used in kindergarten
and pre-school preparatory programmes.
- Update the teachers' manuals, manuals and study aids used in the coaching
programmes.
- Update the teachers' manuals, manuals, and study aids used in the special
tutoring programmes.
- Outline educational programmes for students' hostels.
- Update the curricula, teachers' manuals, schoolbooks and study aids used in
the intercultural educational programmes.
- Update the textbooks and manuals used in Gypsy language teaching.
2.3. A COUNTRY-WIDE NETWORK OF TUTORING
The main tasks of the country-wide network of tutoring are the following: find the well-endowed pupils, provide tutoring for individual pupils and small groups, make sure that these well-endowed pupils continue their studies in the public education system and support their further studies. The network is established and run by the Gandhi Public Foundation with the participation of the County Pedagogical Institutes.
The scope of activity of the network should be gradually spread to all institutions
educating Gypsy pupils in a large number. Comprehensive surveys of the non-Gypsy
pupils studying at these schools need to be conducted at the same time. If possible,
it is necessary to organise special classes for individual pupils or small groups,
summer study camps and preparatory courses for the entrance exams of colleges
and universities in order to enhance the opportunities of talented Gypsy pupils.
It is necessary to make it possible for them to apply for grants and accommodation
in students' hostels.
2.4. A COUNTRY-WIDE NETWORK OF HOSTELS FOR GYPSY STUDENTS
Acountry-wide network of hostels accommodating talented Gypsy pupils with good school results is being established and run by the Gandhi Public Foundation in order to help to enhance these pupils' secondary education. Hostels for Gypsy students providing accommodation during a period of six years (for students in grades 7 to 12) need to be established in the five biggest towns of the country. Apart from accommodation, these institutions would also be able to provide continuous coaching for the pupils, whose actual education would be carried out in the existing schools of the town, thus integrated into the majority society. The hostels would also function as the regional methodological centres of the countrywide network of special tutoring programmes.
It is necessary to establish five hostels with accommodation for approximately 100 pupils in each. The recruitment areas of these hostels should be drawn in such a way that they could all provide the same number of Gypsy children with the opportunity of studying. It is expedient to locate the hostels in relatively large towns with a wide variety of institutions of secondary education. It is also necessary to offer the pupils accommodated in the hostels preparatory courses for the entrance exams of colleges and universities with the assistance of the colleges/universities in the same town.
The detailed plans concerning the location of the hostels have been prepared. The preparatory phase of the construction is to be completed and Gandhi Public Foundation is to be allocated the resources necessary for the construction in 1996. Also, the local governments' and educational institutions' willingness to participate is to be secured. The first hostels would be able to start functioning at the beginning of the school year 1997/98.
2.5. BUILDING UP A DECENTRALISED SYSTEM OF AWARDING GRANTS FOR GYPSY PUPILS IN THE PUBLIC EDUCATION
At present, 797 Gypsy pupils are receiving grants from the National and Ethnic Minorities Public Foundation (Formerly: Public Foundation for the Hungarian National and Ethnic Minorities). 28 of them are university undergraduates, 63 are college undergraduates and 706 are pupils of comprehensive and vocational secondary schools. It would be expedient to continue having the system of grants for student of tertiary education run by National and Ethnic Minorities Public Foundation. In contrast, the system of awarding grants for pupils of secondary education requires widening and the process of making decisions concerning the awarding of the grants should be decentralised. County committees should be set up to award grants for Gypsy pupils, in co-operation with the County Pedagogical Institutes. The sum to be allocated should be considerably raised. In 1996 it should be doubled. The distribution of the Gypsy pupils who receive grants studying in the different grades of secondary education shows that dropping out from school is rather frequent among the pupils receiving grants, too. It ought to be made possible that all the Gypsy students who receive grants studying in the public education system should automatically have the opportunity of participating in the special tutoring programmes.
2.6. PROGRAMMES FOR TRAINING TEACHERS AND EDUCATIONAL EXPERTS
The present system of teacher training is almost completely unsuitable for preparing prospective teachers to deal with the special problems of educating Gypsy children. Zsámbék College is the only institution of tertiary education with a Department of Romani Studies. Apart from supporting the establishment of such institutions, it is vital that a teaching module dealing with the Gypsy minority should appear in teacher training. Research into the Gypsy culture within the framework of tertiary education, to establish the fundamentals for the training programmes, should be supported. It is vital to raise the number of Gypsy students participating in tertiary education, especially of those training to be teachers and social workers, by organising special tutoring programmes for them, widening the scope of scholarship programmes and supporting the preparatory courses organised by institutions of tertiary education.
2.7. TRAINING PROGRAMMES FOR TEACHERS
Training programmes dealing with issues of pedagogy and of the Gypsy culture need to be organised for practising teachers in accordance with the modernisation of Gypsy education. Also, training programmes dealing with issues of the Gypsy culture need to be organised for experts working for local governments, the national health service and in human politics. These training programmes may be organised in the form of traditional courses, in-service training programmes and correspondence courses according to demand. The updating of the curricula, manuals and study aids used in the different training programmes and the organisation of a wide selection of different programmes should be supported.
2.8. THE SUPPORT OF THE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS OF THE GYPSY MINORITY
Following the assessment of the educational process and the physical conditions of the existing educational institutions of the Gypsy minority, their operation should be secured using separate financial resources.
2.9. THE REORGANISATION OF THE SYSTEM OF PEDAGOGICAL AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
In the course of the reorganisation of the background institutions of the Ministry of Culture and Education and of the system of pedagogical and professional services, it is necessary to secure the organisational, personal and financial framework of the activities of research, assessment, curriculum and programme development, training, organisation and quality control services connected to Gypsy education.
1. It should be secured that the County Pedagogical Institutes and the county
councils should employ experts to work on the projects of modernising Gypsy
education, either by employing the former employees of the dissolving District
Educational Centres or by recruiting new staff.
2. The Research Centre of the National Institute of Public Education (OKI) should
employ a researcher and a research manager to co-ordinate all the research activities
necessary for the modernising of Gypsy education and also develop and operate
the database of Gypsy education.
3. The Evaluation Centre of the National Institute of Public Education (OKI)
should employ staff to develop the assessment system of Gypsy education.
4. The Minority Curriculum and Programme Development Office, to be established
later within the Curriculum and Programme Development Office of the National
Institute of Public Education (OKI), should employ staff to organise the updating
of the contents of Gypsy Education.
5. The training programmes for practising teachers/experts are to be developed
and organised by the National and Ethnic Minority Department of National Institute
of Services in Public Education (OKSZI).
2.10. HARMONISATION OF LAWS AND WIDENING THE SYSTEM OF PREFERENTIAL REGULATIONS
A team of experts should be invited to review the effective legislation connected to educational matters in order that they can put forward recommendations in connection with the harmonisation with the Act on the Rights of Minorities and the possible introduction of further preferential regulations and procedures.
2.11. THE CONSTRUCTION OF A UNIFIED SYSTEM OF SUPPORTS AND SERVICES
It should be secured that supports and services aiming at modernising Gypsy education coming from diverse resources should reach the individual educational institutions in a highly synchronised way, in a unified system and securing the participation of the Gypsy minority councils. For this purpose, it is necessary to set up and operate a National Programme of Public Education for Gypsy Pupils.