Educational needs of Roma community highlighted

The educational challenges facing the Roma community in Ireland have been highlighted with the publication of a new report.

“Roma Educational Needs in Ireland: Context and Challenges” was launched by the Junior Minister for Education, Síle deValera, this morning in Dublin.

It was developed in cooperation with Pavee Point Travellers' Centre and the Roma Support group.

Ninety per cent of Roma who live in Ireland come from Romania, where they have a history of segregation and have been denied their basic educational rights.

The report aims to identify the educational needs of Roma, and improve their status and integration in Ireland.

Speaking at its launch, de Valera said there is a need to respect the culture of the Roma when developing inclusive educational policies.

“What we want to do in Ireland here is to ensure that we understand where they are coming as a community in order to be able to provide the kind of education that will be of assistance directly to them,” she said.

Ronnie Fay from the Pavee Point Travellers' group said the Government also needs to make sure that mistakes that have been made with Irish Travellers are not repeated with the Roma community.

“Part of how the mistakes were made was by creating a segregated service and by having a two-tier system, and what we would say is that it is important that Travellers and Roma are within the mainstream system,” Ms Fay said.