McGill Journal of Political Studies 2014 April, 2014 | Page 84

a European Parliament resolution calling
on states to desegregate their education
systems.
In addressing school segregation
around the time of accession in 2004,
each state examined in this paper had
different responses. The Czech Republic’s
Education Act (2004) moved away from
policies of segregated schools for “socially
disadvantaged” children, but established
in Section 16(8) of the law a system
under which individual schools have the
discretion to establish special classes or
departments for children with disability
of any type, including social disadvantage.
Furthermore, the law declared that schools
were to provide disabled or disadvantaged
children with additional resources, such as
Braille for blind children or textbooks for
those who cannot afford their own. Finally,
the law allowed for teaching assistants, who
are hired at the discretion of the school to
support disabled or disadvantaged children
in the classroom. Teaching assistants
were especially important in helping
Roma children, who often struggled in a
majority-culture environment, navigate the
classroom20.
Slovakia implemented some of the same
practices as the Czech Republic, such as
instituting paid teaching assistants in 2002
along with a “zero-year” of pre-school for
students who would struggle in a primary
school classes for developmental, linguistic
or socioeconomic reasons. Other basic
reforms such as recalibrating standardized
testing that disproportionately directs
Roma children to schools for the mentally
handicapped were also implemented in
2005. These programs, along with others,
were implemented as part of the PHARE
fund of the EU, which was established in
1989 and subsequently expanded to help
countries across Eastern Europe handle the
Czech Republic (2004). On Pre-school, Basic,
Secondary, Tertiary Professional and Other Education
(the Education Act) 2004. Chapter 16. Prague
20

84 | McGill Journal of Political Studies 2014

costs of transitioning into the EU21.
Hungary’s Roma were generally better
integrated than in the Czech Republic or
Slovakia. 62% of Roma children attended
majority-population schools in 2003, and
the vast majority of Hungarian Roma
speak Magyar as their primary language.
Still, policies to remedy school segregation
began strongly before accession, with
major revisions of the Public Education
Act in 1999, 2002 and 2003. Along with
the institution of paid teaching assistants
and funds to subsidize school supplies, the
Hungarian government earmarked money
to reward schools that proactively integrate
and foster a “favourable environment for
Roma children22.”
Despite the beginning of the “Decade
of Roma Inclusion” in 2005, with each
country submitting an official action plan
and making political statements in favour of
Roma inclusion, the situation on the ground
has barely improved. Today, the statistics
on the segregation of Roma in schools
have not seen substantial improvement
from the UNDP’s 2003 report; segregation
in pre-school and primary schools had
scarcely improved or even worsened since
2003. A report found that “while more
than 75% of all children aged 3-6 are in
preschool in each of these countries, the
large majority of Roma children are not23.”
In Hungary, possibly due to increasing
social polarization, school segregation has
increased substantially since the 1990s. In
Slovakia, 36% of primary school students
attend classes with all or mostly Roma peers,
only 4% less than in 2003 before any new
policies were implemented. In the Czech
Carey, D. (2007), “Improving Education Outcomes
in the Slovak Republic,” OECD Economics Department Working Papers, No. 578, OECD Publishing,
p. 17-8.
22
Lannert, J. “Strategies for reform and innovation in
Hungarian public education.” (2004), p. 5-7.
23
World Bank (2012) Toward an Equal Start:
Closing the Early Learning Gap for Roma Children
in Eastern Europe. [report] World Bank/European
Commission, p. 7.
21

Republic, while Roma make up between
1.4 and 2.8% of the population, 32% of all
students in primary schools for the mentally
disabled or “practical elementary schools”
were Roma24.
Even since the landmark decision of
D.H. v. Czech Republic (2007), where
the European Court of Human Rights
(ECtHR) found that the Czech government
had violated the European Convention
on Human Rights by segregating Roma
children into special schools, no concrete
action has been taken25. The same is true
for cases against Slovakia26 and Hungary27
at both the European and national levels.
Numerous commissions have been
implemented to “study” the problem. These
commissions, often created on the back of
European political pressure or EU judicial
mandate, dutifully produce reports calling
for policy changes, which rarely occur. This
is a common theme across all three countries
examined in this paper.
Case Study 2: Unemployment
Employment, according to the Roma
themselves, is the single most important
measure of social inclusion in every country
measured, and, in the 2003 UNDP report
Avoiding the Dependency Trap, it is
also clearly the most pressing concern
for most Roma families. During the
Communist era, Roma, along with most
other members of society, were guaranteed
employment by the state. With the collapse
of communism, Roma lost their jobs in
inefficient state-owned firms en masse,
causing Roma unemployment rates to soar
to levels that appear almost unimaginably
high. Unemployment rates vary widely,
Ibid.
D.H. and others v. Czech Republic (Case
C-57325/00) [2007] ECtHR (2006)
26
Amnesty International (2012a) Slovak court rules
segregation of Roma in schools unlawful | Amnesty
International. [online]
27
Horváth and Kiss v. Hungary (Case C-11146/11)
[2013] ECtHR (2013)
24
25

with perceived unemployment, measured
through surveys of Roma families, at 46%
in the Czech Republic, 58% in Hungary
and 85% in Slovakia. This perceived
unemployment rate does not include work in
the informal sector of the economy. Taking
this into account, the International Labour
Organization (ILO)’s “broad unemployment

“Today, the statistics on the
segregation of Roma in schools
have not seen substantial improvement from the UNDP’s
2003 report; segregation in
pre-school and primary schools
had scarcely improved or even
worsened since 2003.”

rate” for Roma, with the broadest possible
definition of employment, was lower. Roma
have an unemployment rate of 34% in the
Czech Republic, 26% in Hungary and 64%
in Slovakia. This means that even with the
broadest definition of labour, including
unregulated, insecure and poorly paid
informal work, Roma unemployment rates
are four times higher than the general
population in the Czech Republic and
Hungary and three and a half times higher
in Slovakia. This is clearly related to the low
average education level of Roma; among
more educated Roma with secondary or
higher education, unemployment rates are
substantially lower28.
This unemployment was not just related
to the generally lower level of education in
Roma communities; racial discrimination
had a powerful effect. As stated by the
European Commission’s 2004 report, The
Situation of Roma in an Enlarged European
Union, many employers attempted t o
submit jobs listings explicitly discouraging
Roma from applying, which often went
unaddressed by local authorities29. In 2003,
UNDP (2003) Avoiding the Dependency Trap.
[report] Bratislava: United Nations Development
Programme, p. 31-7.
29
European Roma Rights Centre (2004) Stigmata:
28

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