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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Roma school assistants appointed

Belgrade, 31 August 2009

Serbian Minister of Education Zarko Obradovic and Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Hans Ola Urstad signed today an agreement concerning the implementation of the programme “Support for the Roma – assistants in elementary schools”, which is being jointly carried out by the Education Ministry and the OSCE.

Hans Ola Urstad and Zarko Obradovic

Author: Fonet

The assistants, who will begin work from September 1 in 26 elementary schools throughout Serbia, received their appointment letters today.

The school assistants for Roma children will work in various elementary schools in Belgrade, Valjevo, Novi Sad, Leskovac, Nis, Kragujevac, Jagodina, Krusevac, Zajecar and Pozarevac.

According to the agreement the OSCE, with financial help from the European Commission, will pay the salaries of the assistants until June 2010, after which the Serbian government will take over.

Education Minister Zarko Obradovic said that Serbia wishes to see as many Roma children in school as possible. He stressed that education is the most efficient way to fight against poverty.

All children should have equal educational opportunities and they must understand that education is important for them and their future. We have included positive measures in the new law on the education system, which is expected to be passed today, and hopefully these measures will help increase the numbers of Roma children in schools, said Obradovic.

The Minister said that his Ministry wishes to stop educational segregation and to change the current conditions which have resulted in many Roma children attending special schools.

We wish to integrate these children into the education system, together with the other children, said Obradovic.

Hans Ola Urstad said that the OSCE will continue to support the Ministry of Education and its efforts to ensure that as many Roma children as possible are admitted into elementary schools and that they complete their elementary education.

More than 60% of Roma in Serbia have not completed their elementary education and this is one of the key reasons for the poverty among the Roma population, said Urstad.

He added that it will be the duty of the new school assistants to help bridge the gap between the Roma and the rest of society and to provide Roma children with the support they need to adjust and integrate.