The complex problem of Roma children education and the lack of good practices in the field on a nation-wide level have indicated the necessity of establishing an educational centre for Roma that could conceive, test and validate the alternative educational programmes and propose changes in public educational policies at a legislative level. It is so that in April 2007 the Ruhama Foundation inaugurated the Roma Education Centre, that has its headquarters in its partner’s campus, The University of Oradea - The Faculty of Social Sciences. With the financial aid from the Roma Education Fund, the financier of our educational programmes, we managed to renovate the building given to us by the University and to create an important resource in the field of education and social inclusion at the level of our county. The programs and objectives set forth by the Centre are the result of an excellent collaboration between the Foundation’s team and the financier’s representatives – Mrs. Judit Szira, inclusive education expert; Mr. Florin Nasture, facilitator for Romania and Mr. Mihai Surdu, public policy expert. The Education Fund has demonstrated that it is more than a financier, it has a clear objective and supports organizations with quality technical assistance. The creation of the Educational Centre has been one of the objectives of the project “The development and promotion of sustainable and inclusive educational programmes for Roma children through integrated community efforts, by founding the Roma Education Centre in Bihor County” financed by the Roma Education Fund and implemented in partnership with the School Inspectorate of Bihor County, the Institution of Prefect - the county office for Roma, and the University of Oradea - Faculty of Social Sciences.

To shed some light on the problems facing Roma children education, we will present data collected from the county. In 2007 the over 40.000 Roma citizens in Bihor County faced a massive discrepancy regarding the access to education and the level of school performances between Roma and non-Roma children. Despite the rather favourable legislative circumstances we can observe a small school attendance rate and a very high school drop out rate among Roma children, all of these being correlated with low social-economic standards. In 2007 the Ruhama Foundation carried out educational programmes in 23 Roma communities in the county. We have observed a low rate of school attendance of Roma children in general but with vast differences between age categories. The rate of school attendance decreases as kids grow older. If Roma children have a school attendance rate of 65.77% in primary school, in secondary school it drops to 43% and plunges to a dramatic 3.4% for high school. Moreover the kindergarten attending rate for Roma children is only 37.6%. In comparison the school attendance rate for the non-Roma population is much higher as follows: 96.5% for children between the ages of 7 and 10, 94.1% for children of ages between 11 and 14 and 73.7% for children between the ages of 15 and 18. As kindergarten is concerned the attendance rate of non-Roma children increases from 70% in the toddler grade to 90% in the pre-school preparation year.  These are the figures that the Roma Education Centre proposes to drastically alter in the following years by mobilizing all the human and financial resources available, in the context of education reform and that of Romania’s integration in the European Union.

The mission of the Roma Education Centre

The mission of the Roma Education Centre is to develop inclusive and sustainable educational models for Roma children that promote desegregation and integration, supported through integrated community efforts.