segregation of roma children in elementary schools in ... · stiv naumov 1 naum ohridski 3 dr....

Segregation of Roma Children

in Elementary Schools in

Republic of Macedonia

2

Segregation of Roma children in elementary schools in Republic of Macedonia

Publisher:

Citizens Association Institute for Human Rights and European Roma Rights Centre

Authors:

Dzenifer Dzeladin

Kristina Doda

October 2016

3

Table of contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Error!

Bookmark not defined.

Research methodology ............................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Analisys for the legal framework for primary education and reonization……………………………………… Error!


Data from municipalities………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Error!


Bitola Municipality .................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Shtip Municipality .................................................................................................................................. 26

Gazi Baba Municipality .......................................................................................................................... 35

Gjorce Petrov Municipality ..................................................................................................................... 44

Kumanovo Municipality ......................................................................................................................... 50

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Error!


Recommendations………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..66

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 67

4

Introduction

The Institute for Human Rights conducted a survey in the period between June and October 2016

on the situation of Roma children in primary education in five municipalities on the territory of

the Republic of Macedonia: the municipalities of Bitola, Kumanovo, Shtip and two

municipalities on the territory of Skopje - municipalities Gjorce Petrov and Gazi Baba.

The purpose of this research is to analyse the situation of Roma children in these five

municipalities and determine whether there is segregation of Roma pupils in primary schools.

This is measured through the number of Roma students in the schools, the composition of classes

in schools, whether enrolment in first grade is in accordance with the municipalities’ decision on

reonization etc.

Findings are based on analysis of data gathered through desk research in a form of a review of

domestic legislation related to the primary education and reonization, as well as additional data

and documents obtained by free access to public information from institutions that are relevant

for the primary education system in the country. The field research included meetings and

interviews with parents of Roma children in all five municipalities and interviews with school

officials (principals, teachers, psychologists) and other relevant stakeholders for the

municipalities where the previous research showed that there are problems and possible

segregation.

At the beginning the analysis describes the research methodology, and then provides an overview

of the relevant legal provisions governing primary education and reonization in Republic of

Macedonia (hereafter “RM”). Also, this section includes a description of the regulation of

segregation in the country. After that, a summary of the status of the primary schools and

inclusion of Roma for each municipality separately is following. For each municipality there is

analysed information obtained through free access to public information and information

obtained through the conducted interviews. At the end of the analysis conclusions on the

situation of Roma pupils in the selected municipalities are given as well as recommendations to

the authorities at local and national level with the purpose of overcoming problematic practices.

In many national and international documents, it is emphasized that segregation of Roma

children in Macedonia is a present issue in the country, apart from segregation of Roma in other

spheres of social and public life.

The causes of segregation of Roma children within primary schools in targeted municipalities,

according to this report, are various; somewhere it exists because of the stereotypes in the society

and in other places as a consequence of the systematic segregation that existed since the past.

5

Research Methodology During the research, the Institute of Human Rights was guided by the data obtained through free

access to public information from municipalities, schools, Ministry of Education, National

Examination Centre and the State Educational Inspectorate, and the interviews with the directors,

pedagogues, psychologists and teachers from the targeted schools, municipal representatives,

representatives of local NGOs and parents of Roma children.

Firstly, our primary objective was to analyse the situation of Roma children in primary schools in

the 5 targeted municipalities: Bitola, Kumanovo, Shtip, Gazi Baba (Skopje) and Gjorce Petrov

(Skopje). We contacted local NGO’s working on Roma issues as well as schools from the

selected municipalities. Based on the received information and our previous suspects that in

practice there is a possible segregation of Roma children, we chose the following five schools as

target schools of our work, where we conducted a more in-depth research: OU "Gjorgi Sugarev"

from Bitola, OU "11 October" from Kumanovo, "Goce Delchev" from Shtip, OU "Dane

Krapchev" from Gazi Baba (Skopje) and OU "Strasho Pindzur" from the Municipality of Gjorce

Petrov (Skopje). The in-depth research was focused on those primary schools which were

identified as more problematic, but information was gathered from other schools located on the

territory of these five municipalities, as well.

The Institute submitted requests for free access to public information1 to all primary schools on

the territory of the five targeted municipalities. In total, we managed to submit requests for free

access to information to 41 schools. We received responses from 39 schools (in two schools from

Bitola, from where we did not received answers, they informed us by phone that there are no

Roma children enrolled there). The questions were aimed to determine: the exact number of

students in each school separately, number of Roma pupils, current status and situation of

students in the last 5 school years, the allocation of Roma children in classes, does the school

respects the reonization, number of pupils from outside the catchment area, problems with drop-

outs of Roma and non-Roma children, quality of education etc.

The requests for free access to public information were sent to the municipalities in order to

receive the municipal decisions/plans for reonization of primary schools, the methodology used,

as well as answers on questions, such as: Does the municipality have operational and action

programs for integrated education, annual and action programs for primary schools on their

territory?; Is the decision for reonization respected?; Whether the municipality has adopted a

special resolution on the distribution of students regardless of the decision on reonization?; Does

the municipality provide transportation for the children who on basis of the reonization decision

cannot be enrolled in the nearest school?; and similar.

Separately, requests for free access to information of public interest were also sent to the

educational sectors of the municipalities , in order to find out whether the Educational Inspector

of the municipality in the inspection on primary schools has identified irregularities in the 2012 –

1 Law on free access to public information, Official gazette nr. 13/2006.

6

2016 period, and if so, for what reason and to which schools, how many injuries were instituted,

infringement proceedings before the competent court, if authorized inspectors of the municipality

keep records of compliance decision on whether reonization and filed misdemeanour charges for

non-repentance of the reonization decisions and to which schools etc. In this regard, we did not

received all the answers from municipalities and some of the municipalities that answered on the

request gave very poor and insufficient answers.

Other relevant information was gained through the information received from the Ministry of

Education - Bureau for Development of Education and the National Examination Centre.

The information was concerning data about ranking of primary school teachers prepared in

accordance with the reports from the results of the external evaluation of the student

achievements until 2016 as well as reports of integral evaluation for primary schools in the

municipalities of Gazi Baba, Gjorce Petrov, Kumanovo, Bitola and Shtip, from 2012 until 2016.

We requested from the State Educational Inspectorate:

• written reports from inspection conducted in primary schools in the municipalities of

Gazi Baba, Gjorce Petrov, Kumanovo, Bitola and Shtip as of 2012 to 2016;

• number of submitted misdemeanour charges against schools for the period 2012, 2013,

2014 2015 and 2016;

• reasons for the filed misdemeanour charges;

• number of criminal charges against schools for the period 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and

2016;

• reasons for the criminal charges;

• information about: whether the State Educational Inspectorate has initiated any

disciplinary proceedings for unjustified lack of maintenance of the legally determined

classes, and schools against which the Inspectorate has instituted proceedings for non-

compliance with the reonization decisions, and if so which schools are those, etc.

On the question regarding the yearly school reports and rankings of primary school teachers we

received an answer by the Bureau for Development of Education that they are not competent to

give us this information and redirected us to the relevant municipalities, schools and National

Examination Centre.

We received some answers from the State Educational Inspectorate for the teachers rankings

according to the external testing. The answers were for the academic years 2013/2014 and

2014/2015. The rankings for the academic year 2015/2016 were still not ready and the data for

2012/2013 are not available, because it was a probationary year of the external testing.

We also received the yearly school reports by the school authorities. The reports are written in a

similar fashion and contain general information about the school.

7

The answers received from the educational inspection units in the municipalities and from the

State Educational Inspectorate indicate that no charges against the schools were implemented,

nor any proceedings for contempt of the decision on reonization or similar were initiated.

The points of the answers we received by the municipalities and primary schools are ranked from

1 to 4 (1- meaning no answer and 4 - meaning we received all the information)

Municipality

Bitola

2 Municipality

Shtip

4 Municipality

Kumanovo

4 Municipality Gazi

Baba

3 Municipality

Gjorche Petrov

4

Primary

school Bitola

Primary

school Shtip

Primary school

Kumanovo

Municipality Gazi

Baba

Municipality

Gjorche Petrov

Gjorgi Sugarev 2 Dimitar

Vlahov

4 11 October 3 Naum Naumovski

Borche

4 Dimitar Pop Berovski 3

St. Cyril and

Methodius

2 Goce Delchev 4 Krste Misirkov 3 Krste Misirkov 3 Tihomir Miloshevski 3

Kliment

Ohridski

4 Vancho Prke 4 Toli Zordumis 3 Vera Jocik 4 Joakim Krchovski 4

Kole

Kananovski

4 Slavejko

Arsov

3 Hristijan Karposh 3 Cyril and Methodius 3 Strasho Pindzur 3

Todor

Angelevski

3 Toso Arsov 3 Brakja Miladinovci 3 Krum Toshev 2 Gjorche Petrov 3

Aleksandar

Turundziev

2 Kocho Racin 2 25 May 3 Mirche Acev 4

Elipida

Karamandi

3 Vuk Karadzic 2 Grigor Prlichev 3

Dame Gruev 2 Stiv Naumov 3

Goce Delchev 3 Njegosh

3

Krste Petkov

Misirkov

2 Dane Krapchev 3

Stiv Naumov 1 Naum Ohridski 3

Dr. Trifun

Panovski

1

8

Analysis of the legal framework for primary education and

reonization

The 2014 – 2020 Roma Strategy focuses on five strategic areas: employment, education,

housing, health and culture.2 In the field of education, this strategy recommends to overcome the

issue of early drop-outs of the Roma children in the education process and to overcome the

segregation in schools.3

In this strategy it is mentioned the Communication of the European Commission to the European

Parliament, European council, European economic and social committee, Committee of the

regions (an EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies up to 2020)4 as well as the

Resolution for the achievements of the implementation of the national strategies for Roma

integration from 12 December 2013 where the European Parliament is recommending to the

member states to try to integrate their programs for inclusion of Roma in the programs for

promotion of equal opportunities and prevention of discrimination and segregation. According to

the European Commission the Roma question should be systematically included in all European

and national policies. The policies that allow segregation should be immediately abolished.

In the national legislation the term segregation is not very often used. In the Law on primary

education as well as in the Law against discrimination5 the segregation is not mentioned.

According to the Law on Primary Education6 every child has the right to primary education,

futher prohibiting discrimination based on sex, race, colour, national, social, political, religious,

financial and social status in exercising the right to primary education.

The primary schools under the Primary Education Law can be municipal or state. The municipal

primary school are established by the municipality and all of the schools that are targeted in this

report are municipal schools. The municipal Council makes a decision on the establishment of a

primary school, after having obtained a favourable opinion from the Government. State primary

schools that are established by the Government are established for realization of curriculum and

programs of primary education for some students for whom the state has a special interest (for

example, schools for pupils with special educational needs).

According to the Law on Primary Education, every primary school is obliged to involve in

education the students residing in its district. The primary school can also enrol students from

other districts or municipalities if there are free enrolment places. The founder, i.e. in this case

the municipality, determines the catchment area of every primary schools. According to the Law

on primary education, parents have the right to enrol their children in primary schools that are

located in the region (catchment area) where they live or where they temporary reside.

2 Roma strategy 2014-2020, Ministry of labour and social policy, 2014. 3 Roma strategy 2014-2020, Ministry of labour and social policy, 2014. 4 EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies up to 2020, COM(2011) 173 final. 5 Law on prevention and protection against discrimination, Official gazette R.M nr. 50/2010. 6 Law on primary education, Official gazette nr. 103/08, 2008.

9

According to the same law, parents can also enrol their chilled into another school in the same or

different district, if they have an approval for doing that by the school where they want to enrol

their children and if the school have free places.7

The list of children from the catchment area of each primary school, successfully enrolled in that

school, is obtained by the authorized unit of Local Government that keeps records of permanent

and temporary residents.8

By these legal provisions, the Municipality is obligated to decide on determining the catchment

areas of all primary schools situated in its territory. In the decisions for reonization of

Municipalities it is stressed that they are securing the balanced stream of students in primary

schools and taking in consideration the optimum school capacities of the municipality.

The decision covers the neighbourhoods, exact streets and numbers that belong to a particular

school in the municipality. However, the Law on Primary Education and the decisions for

reonization leave an open opportunity for students from another district or another municipality

to be enrolled in a primary school outside the catchment area of the place of their

living/residence, if there a free space, giving a lot of space for arbitrariness /discretion.

Apart from that, in the reonization decisions it is emphasized that for the students who are

voluntarily enrolled in primary school in another district or other municipality, the transportation

costs shall be borne by the parents.

In a situation where the birth rate in most municipalities around the country is drastically

reduced, the opportunity for enrolment of children to another school is possible everywhere and

there is always the possibility for manipulation of the reonization decisions.

According to the national legislation, there are several institutions that have specific

responsibilities for ensuring equality and non-discrimination and are competent to respond in

cases of segregation. There are three groups of institutions that have responsibilities to ensure

equality and non-discrimination. They mainly belong to independent bodies, legislative

institutions and institutions of the executive power. As for example, the Commission for

protection against discrimination, Ombudsperson and the Agency for exercising the rights of

communities are the most important independent bodies that have the main word against

discrimination and ensuring equal opportunities. Other bodies that also have an important role in

this issue are the Permanent Inquiry Committee for protection of freedoms and rights of citizens,

the Committee on Inter-Ethnic Relations and the Committee on Equality between women and

men. Within the executive branch, are the following institutions: Department for Equal

Opportunities, Office of affirmation and promotion of the culture of community members, and

the Directorate for Development and promotion of education in the languages of members of

communities.

7 Article 46, Law on primary education, Official gazette nr. 103/08, 2008. 8 Aricle 50, Law and primary education, Official gazette nr. 103/08, 2008.

10

In all its reports since 2010, the Ombudsperson consistently reports on possible segregation in

education based on linguistic and ethnic lines.9 In the reports, particularly is emphasized the

segregation of Roma pupils in schools and classes thus, emphasizing the disproportionate

representation and segregation of Roma in special schools. Analysis of data obtained by the

Ombudsperson contained in this report also note about the fact that in some primary schools

reonization decisions are not respected, and that students enroll in accordance to the demands

and wishes of their parents.10

9 Ombudsman report. Information of the situation for enrollment of Roma in first grade and their representation in

classes together with children from other ethnic backgrounds 2014/15. Available at:

http://ombudsman.mk/upload/Posebni%20izvestai/2015/Informacija%20Romi-Obrazovanie-2015.pdf. 10 Ibid.

http://ombudsman.mk/upload/Posebni%20izvestai/2015/Informacija%20Romi-Obrazovanie-2015.pdf

11

Data from Municipalities

BITOLA MUNICIPALITY

In Bitola the total population numbers 95,385 persons, while the number of Roma in the

Municipality of Bitola is 2.613 or in percentage 2.74% , according to the last census in Republic

of Macedonia, from 2002.11

Total population of Bitola by ethnicity:

Ethnic groups Population

Macedonians 84,616

Albanians 4164

Turks 1610

Roma 2613

Vlachs 1270

Serbs 541

Bosniaks 21

Other 550

Total 95,385

Bitola has adopted its reonization decision on 29.10.2009.

The answers received from the primary schools in Bitola are in direction that they respect the

municipal reonization decisions but as well they respect the parents’ choice when they use the

opportunity given in the law, to enrol their children in school according to their choice,

regardless where they belong according to the reonization decision.

Bitola has a total of 12 primary schools. We received the following data from each school

respectively regarding the number of children in each school and the number of Roma children,

in particular:

11 State statistical office, Census 2002. Available at: http://www.stat.gov.mk/Default_en.aspx.

http://www.stat.gov.mk/Default_en.aspx

12

"Gјorgi Sugarev" total number of 604 students, of which 474 Roma.

"Cyril and Methodius" total number of 429 students, of which 20 Roma.

"Kliment Ohridski" total number of 1,000 students of which 13 Roma.

"Todor Angelevski" total number of 952 students of which 10 Roma.

"Kole Kaninski" total number of 812 students, of which 12 Roma.

"Dame Gruev" total number of 731 students, out of which 8 Roma.

"Elpida Karamandi" total number of 725 students of which 7 Roma.

"Goce Delchev" total number of 595 students, of which 4 Roma.

"Alexander Turunchiev" total number of 205 students, of which 1 Roma.

"Krste Misirkov" total number of 457 students, no Roma students in this school.

“Stiv Naumov” No Roma students in this school

“Dr. Trifun Panovski” Did not answered on the Request for free access to public information.

No response received from Primary School "Dr. Trifun Panovski" and "Stiv Naumov" (in a

phone conversation they informed us that there are no Roma children enrolled in this school).

Most of the Roma children in Bitola are enrolled in the primary school "Gjorgi Sugarev". This

school has a total number of 604 students of which 474 Roma, 80% of students in this school are

Roma. At "Gjorgi Sugarev" from 2011 to 2016 may be noted a drastic decline in the enrolment

of non-Roma first graders, especially in the last two years. In the school year 2015/2016 only 8

students who are not Roma have enrolled. We received information that, even though there were

5 non-Roma children enrolled at the beginning of this school year (2016/2017) their parents have

decided tо withdrawn their enrolment. Therefore, the primary school “Gjorgi Sugarev” will start

this school year only with Roma children enrolled.

Number of enrolled students in the first grade in "Gjorgi Sugarev" Roma Other Total

2011/2012 51 20 71

2012/2013 68 12 80

2013/2014 59 16 75

2014/2015 57 25 82

2015/2016 42 8 50

2016/2017 31 5 37

The ethnic composition in the school "Gjorgi Sugarev" in the academic 2015/2016 year is the

following: Roma student 474, Macedonians 122, Albanians 4 and Turks 4.

13

Number of students in the school years from 2011 to 2016:

Classes 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016 Roma

Total number of students in school year 573 558 578 609 604

First 71 80 75 82 73 306

Second 60 77 91 97 95 349

Third 56 61 75 88 91 291

Fourth 73 47 60 70 77 240

Fifth 60 70 47 59 66 208

Sixth VIII- 6612

IX- 54

59 68 58 59 *

Seventh 54 VIII-54

IX-56

57 61 50 *

Eighth 79 54 49 VIII-

IX- 56

48 50 *

Ninth / / / 46 43 *

*There are no data for Roma children from sixth until ninth grade, as well as no data for others

and total number of enrolled children

On the question for allocation of Roma children in classes in the school year 2015/2016, the

answer received by the school was that all classes are only with Roma children.

According to the decision for reonization of Bitola municipality almost all of the children from

"Bair" (settlement with the largest number of Roma population) need to be enrolled in "Gjorgi

Sugarev" eventhough the nearest school to “Gjorgi Sugarev” which is on 5 minute walking

distance “Todor Angeleski” has very few Roma children enrolled.

The average grade (GPA) in this school is 3.27 and the average grade for the Roma students is

2.15 in the 2015/2016 academic year.

12 From the school year 2011/2012 are fomed classes with pupils from eight and nineght grade.

14

Primary School "Todor Angelevski"

"Todor Angelevski" in Bitola has 952 students in the academic year 2015/2016 out of which

only 10 are Roma.

Number of students enrolled in first grade School "Todor

Angelevski"

Roma Other Total

2011/2012 1 94 95

2012/2013 4 100 104

2013/2014 1 118 119

2014/2015 2 118 120

2015/2016 1 109 110

2016/2017 1 118 119

15

The ethnic composition of "Todor Angelevski" in the academic year 2015/2016 is 926

Macedonians, 10 Roma, 10 Turks, 3 Serbs, 2 Albanians and 1 Vlachs.

In the school years 2011-2016 the total number of students by departments are the

following:

Classes 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016 Total

Total number of students in school in school

year

938 948 973 977 952

First 95 104 121 120 110 550

Second 122 97 105 119 117 560

Third 114 120 100 100 113 547

Fourth 114 111 122 97 97 541

Fifth 78 113 113 120 92 517

Six 111 77 113 115 122 538

Seventh 108 111 80 112 110 521

Eighth 107 108 111 81 110 517

Ninth 89 107 108 112 81 497

Allocation of Roma children in classes in the school year 2015/2016

I-3 II-1 III IV-1 V VI VII-2 VIII-3 IX

1 1 / 1 / / 1 1 /

According to the school principles, the methodology used for allocation of pupils by classes is

aimed at providing heterogeneous classes in terms of gender, previous knowledge of the child

measured with the enrollment tests, nationality, socio-economic status of the family etc.

The total number of students enrolled in enrolled in the first grade in primary school "Todor

Angeleski" for the school year 2015/2016 is 119 pupils, out of which 92 of the enrolled pupils

belong to the region (catchment area) of this school, while 27 students are enrolled students

coming from other regions.

The average grade in 2015/2016 school year in this school is 4,22 and for Roma children the

school does not have special and separate records but the performance of Roma students in the

moment is with good and very good results.

16

Primary School "St. Cyril and Methodius"

The number of pupils in the Primary School "Cyril and Methodius” is 429 students in total, out

of which 20 are Roma students, the school is located in the centre of Bitola.

Number of students enrolled in first grade in the Primary School"

Cyril and Methodius"

Roma Other Total

2011/2012 24 378 402

2012/2013 23 357 380

2013/2014 23 374 397

2014/2015 20 384 410

2015/2016 20 410 429

2016/2017 19 432 448

The ethnic composition of the Primary School "Cyril and Methodius" for the school year

2015/2016 is 390 Macedonians, Roma 20, Turks 16, 2 Vlachs and 1 Serbs.

For the second table, which is about the number of children per classes from 2011 until 2016, the

school did not provide us with an answer, and we only received the number of Roma students.

Allocation of Roma children in classes in 2015/2016:

I-а I-b

1 1

II-а II-b

1 1

III-а III-b

/ 1

IVа IV-b

2 2

V-а V-b

/ 1

VI-а VI-b

2 /

VII-а VII-b

/ 1

VIII-а VIII-b VIII-v

/ 2 /

17

IX-а IX-b

2 1

From the Primary School noted that they respect the reonization decision but do respect the will

of the parents as well. Therefore, they have 10 students from another district. The school average

grade in the 2015/2016 school year is 4.51 and for the Roma is 3.0.

OU „St. Climent Ohrdiski” Bitola

The total number of students in Primary School St. Kliment Ohridski in the 2015/2016

school year is 1.000, out of which 13 are Roma.

Number of enrolled students in first grade Roma Others Total

2011/2012 / 90 90

2012/2013 / 116 116

2013/2014 / 113 113

2014/2015 3 116 119

2015/2016 1 118 119

2016/2017 / 99 99

After the recent reallocation of the school in a nearby building, the number of students has

changed and the rest of the students are transferred to the Primary School Gjorgi Sugarev.

The ethnic composition of the Primary School St. Kliment Ohridski in the school year

2015/2016 is the following: 968 Macedonian pupils, 13 Roma, 10 Turkish, 6 Albanian and 3

Bosniaks.

Number of students by school year from 2011 to 2016.

School

years

2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015

/

2015/2016 Rom

a

Others Total

Total

number

931 955 963 981 1000

First 90 116 113 119 119 4 553 557

Second 98 91 115 117 116 6 531 537

Third 119 97 92 121 113 6 536 542

Fourth 120 121 95 93 120 4 545 549

Fifth 83 123 121 96 96 / 519 519

Sixth

VIII

grade. 103

90 122 125 99 1 539 540

18

Seventh IX grade

115

112 90 120 124 / 561 561

Eighth VIII

grade. 103

VIII 112

VIII grade

113

90 122 1 530 530

Ninth VIII grade

94

IX grade

101

VIII grade

99

99 89 / 483 483

Allocation of Roma children in classes in 2015/2016 school year.

I-1 I-2 I-3 I-4 I-5

1 / / / /

II-1 II-2 II-3 II-4 II-5

/ / / 3 /

III-1 III-2 III-3 III-4 III-5

/ / 1 1 /

IV-1 IV-2 IV-3 IV-4 IV-5

/ / 2 2 /

V-1 V-2 V-3 V-4 V-5

/ / / / /

VI-1 VI-2 VI-3 VI-4 VI-5

/ / / 1 /

VII-1 VII-2 VII-3 VII-4 VII-5

/ / / / /

VIII-1 VIII-2 VIII-3 VIII-4 VIII-5

/ / / 1

IX-1 IX-2 IX-3 IX-3 IX-4

/ / / / /

The total number of students enrolled in first grade in the school year 2016/2017 is 99, out of

which 30 do not belong to the catchment area of the school. On the question whether the

enrollment of first graders is conducted according to the reonization decision, from the school

answered that they do not do it according to the reonization decision because of changes in the

meantime.

The allocation of students by classes is being done according to their gender, degree of

knowledge of the Cyrillic alphabet, basic knowledge before the enrollment, communication with

the committee and other children as well as according to some data about their parents such as

degree of education and address of living but also the requests / wishes of the parents.

19

The average grade of students in the 2015/2016 school year is 4.06, while when it comes to

Roma students the average grade is good.

Primary School "Kole Kaninski"

Total number of students in the Primary School "Kole Kaninski" in the school year 2015/2016 is

812 , out of which 12 are Roma.

Number of students enrolled in first grade Primary School "Kole Kaninski" Roma Other Total

2011/2012 3 85 88

2012/2013 2 113 115

2013/2014 / 92 92

2014/2015 1 100 101

2015/2016 2 100 102

2016/2017 4 92 96

The ethnic composition in "Kole Kaninski" in the academic year 2015/2016 is the following:

778 Macedonians, 12 Roma , 8 Turks, 7 Albanians, 3 Vlachs and 2 others.


Classes 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016 Roma Others Total

Total number of students in

school in the school year

821 807 812 810 812 82

First 115 92 101 102 96 9 497 506

Second 84 119 91 101 101 10 486 496

Third 99 85 112 90 102 8 480 488

Fourth 83 99 81 112 88 9 454 463

Fifth 54 83 98 82 113 10 420 430

Six 94 54 84 96 79 9 398 407

Seventh 103 100 53 88 96 8 432 440

Eighth 68 105 91 53 85 10 392 402

Ninth 121 70 101 86 52 9 421 430

20

Allocation of Roma children by classes in 2015/2016.

I-1 I-2 I-3

1

II-1 II-2 II-3

1 1 1

III-1 III-2 III-3

1 / 1

IV-1 IV-2 IV-3

/ / /

V-1 V-1 V-1

/ / /

VI-1 VI-5

1 1

VIII-2 VIII-3

1 1

In the Primary School Kole Kaninski the total number of student in the school year 2015/2016

was 812, out of which 3 do not belong to the catchment area of the school. On the question

whether the registration of first graders was performed according to the reonization decision

from the school responded that enrollment is done according reonization but there are rare cases

when for different reasons parents want their children to be enrolled in their school even though

they do not belong to that school. The distribution of students per classes is based on their

gender, psycho-physical assessment and socio-economic status etc. The Commission for

distribution of students is composed of school doctor, psychologist, pedagogue and teacher.

The average grade of students enrolled in this school in the academic year 2015/2016 is 4.36

while the average grade of Roma students is 3.27.

21

Average grade of children in primary schools in the municipality of Bitola:

School Average grade Average grade of Roma

children

Gjorgi Sugarev 3,27 2.15

St. Cyril and Methodius 4.51 3.0

Kliment Ohridski 4.06 3.0

Kole Kaninski 4.36 3.27

Todor Angelevski 4.22 3.33

Dame Gruev 4.15 3.12

Elpida Karamandi 4.50 3.50

Goce Delchev 4.48 3.0

Aleksandar Turundziev 3.70 3.20

Krste Petkov Misirkov 4.02 No Roma children in this school

Interviews conducted in Bitola

In “Gjorgi Sugarev” we conducted interviews with the director, pedagogical service and four

teachers. We conducted interviews with the pedagogue from the primary school “Todor

Angeleski” and with Roma parents from Bitola municipality.

In general, all interviewees emphasized the problem that- most of the non-Roma students who

according to the decision for reonization belong to "Gjorgi Sugarev" are not enrolled in this

school, because it is widely known as a "Roma" or "Gypsy" school. 13

Regarding the question of the distribution of students per classes, a school principal responded:

"We can no longer stick to the criteria for proper allocation in classes. This is mainly because of

failure to properly implement the reonization decision. For these reasons Macedonian students

are enrolled in neighboring schools, and at "Gjorgi Sugarev" only Roma students are being

enrolled. Because of that we are forced to form purely Roma classes."

The director of the school "Gjorgi Sugarev" noted that in the process of formation of classes it is

taken into account how the child will score on the testing, the gender, evenly allocated Roma. He

also noted that: "unfortunately there are not many non-Roma students being enrolled in recent

years, so we are forced to have clear Roma-only classes. "

The reonization in Bitola is not respected, for what the director noted that the school has already

highlighted the problem to the Ministry of Education and Science and the local government, but

the problem according to them is that "parents of Macedonian students do not want to enroll

their children in this school, and the law provides an opportunity for them to enroll their

children where they want. "

13 This problem exists for a long time. Institute for Human Rights have noticed this problem while conducting the activities under

the project “Discrimination of Roma into the education process: Breaking the wall of segregation”.13

22

Also they face problems with the enrollment of students in the first grade. As they informed us,

Roma parents do not enroll their children by the end of May, as regulated by law, but usually are

coming only after the third invitation sent to parents. At the same time, there are examples where

children are enrolled in November, in first grade.

School principals pointed out that the problem increases from year to year and that there is a

need for changes in the law and full allignment to the reonization especially, that other schools

accept students from other districts in the first enrollment period. "We are trying to invite all the

parents Macedonians and Roma, by going from door to door to promote the school, but the

interest from the side of Macedonian parents is very low. We explain to them that they need to

visit us and to see how we work, the infrastructure of the school and the conditions have been

greatly improved and we can now tell that we have the best conditions in the entire community.

The teaching staff is relatively young and ambitious. However, the parents’ decision is most

important. "

Although, 80% of the students in this school are Roma, they do not have a single Roma teacher

employed in the school and no facultative Roma language is being thought, on the grounds that:

“Roma in Bitola do not speak Romani language and for them Macedonian is their mother

tongue. From the facultative classes they mainly choose dances” – as reported by the school.

They have a some complaints from Roma and non-Roma parents and such complaints are

different. Roma parents often complain about the lack of financial means for clothing and

additional school materials. While non-Roma parents often complain in terms of the assessment

results of their children. So far, they have not received a complaint from parents regarding the

placement of children in the same school desks. The school principals pointed out that children

socialize with each other and there are no problems between them, but discrimination exists

among non-Roma parents and hence, year after year their children are quietly leaving the

school.

According to the school principals: "The reason for the poor performance of Roma students is

that they are not regularly present on classes. Only in the academic year 2015/2016, there were

150 irregular students." 14

Through the interviews conducted with the pedagogical services in the primary school "Gjorgi

Sugarev" we received information that in the school year 2016/2017 there are 38 enrolled Roma

students and only 5 non-Roma students. Roma parents are expected to enrol their children in

September or even in October-November, but the fear is that the enrolled 5 non –Roma students

will remain on that number. “This year 4 classes should be established and we have only 5 non-

Roma students that we need to put in one class and others to be in pure Roma classes”. On the

question: why all non- Roma children must be placed in one class, the answer was: "The non-

Roma parents do not want their children to be the only non- Roma with other Roma children.

They do not even want to enroll them into our school and if we put only one child in class with

all the other Roma children, they will write off their child from the school. Before when there

14 The term “irregular” is used by the school to explain those students that have been absent from more than 300

school classes.

23

were 20 non- Roma children enrolled in the school it was easier, but today with only 5 children

it is very difficult to not form Roma-only classes."

The pedagogical service is consistently informed by teachers for children that have problems and

work with these students to overcome the problems. “The biggest problem is that the non-Roma

parents are enrolling their children in other school even though they belong in “Gjorgi

Sugarev” and for that reason we can not have mixed classes. But now we have also Roma

parents who do not want to enroll their children in "Gjorgi Sugarev" and they want their

children to study in mixed classes. Reonization is not respected and because of that we have such

a problem. A major problem is the irregular attendance of Roma children and thus, they can not

be assessed. Teachers feel the failure of the children like a personal failure and they are

accountable to the inspectorate, but there is not a lot to blame the teacher for the poor success,

as the programs are the same in all schools. The school has a good place, it is near the centre of

the city and many non-Roma parents are passing by the school but bring their children in other

schools that are far beyond their place of residence.”

"There are 72 students who need to be enrolled in this school based on reonization, but are not

enrolled. We are giving a list to the NGO" Bairska svetlina" to find those children. During the

month of May they were visiting Roma and non-Roma families belonging to that area for

enrollment, but their children have either already been enrolled in another school or have already

decided where to enroll their child in first grade, disregarding where they belong under the

reonization decision and parents find a pretext that their grandmother, grandfather lives near that

school, that will take care of it, brother/sister studied in the same school, and so on.

"Roma in Bitola are enrolling the secondary education because now it is obligatory under law,

but most of them are enrolled in vocational schools. There is a small number of students

enrolling in gymnasium high school because they have very low grades in primary education” –

was said by teachers from "Gjorgi Sugarev". They let their students to democratically choose

with whom they want to sit and take care to mix Roma with non-Roma children. The success of

Roma pupils is good and very good, but there are students who are excellent and there are

differences from generation to generation. They themselves realize they have to invest a lot to

succeed further, but there is still a lack of motivation among them. "The economic situation has

led them to think that there is nothing to do and nothing to attain and they lose desire and

motivation and say “why should I study when they will not hire me”. This needs to be changed

and they need to learn that studying can change their life. The problem is that in the school there

are 70% -80% of Roma children while 20-30% are mainly Macedonians, 10 years ago the

situation was 50-50 and "was an ideal school to implement projects for multiculturalism and

challenging stereotypes. The irony is the same people are living door to door to Roma and non-

Roma, but when the time of enrollment comes parents do not like to enroll their children in

"Gorge Sugarev" because is the mainly Roma school, but instead they enrol their children in

"Todor Angeleski", school that is very close to this one. Currently, we have a situation where

Roma parents as well want to enrol their children in another school because they want their

children to study in mixed classes.”

Because the principals from "Gjorgi Sugarev" noted that the nearest Primary School "Todor

Angeleski" usually enrolsl students that belong in the area of Primary School “Gjorgi Sugarev",

24

we visited "Todor Angeleski" as well where due to the vacations we had the opportunity to

conduct an interview only with the pedagogue. As described above, at "Todor Angelevski" the

total number of students is 952 out of which only 10 are Roma, and the school is located very

near the Primary School "Gorge Sugarev."

The pedagogue from "Todor Angeleski" noted that enrollment in first grade is done according to

reonization and the desire of parents where they want to enroll their child is respected."

Reonization decision is not changed in the last 5 years. The distribution of students per class is

done according to the first test at enrollment, social status and family backround, parents

education and similar and many of the parents choose to which teacher to enroll their child.

Interviews given by the parents:

15 parents of Roma children were interviewed, they said they enrolled their children in school

where they belong based on the region but they are not satisfied with the teachers especially

their investment in the literacy of their children "I am not satisfied with the attitude of teachers

in" Gjorgi Sugarev" they do not take care for our children, my first child was innovative but my

second child has many problems especially with mathematics and nobody is taking care nobody

is interested to help to my child, and she is first year in high school and still has a problem with

mathematics. In Gjorgi Sugarev they never stayed in additional classes and I didn’t have the

opportunity to pay for private classes. We asked whether she asked the teacher to hold additional

lectures to her child and the parent answer was: “you know what they said on this to this school

“do not worry he will finish until the 8th grade and then “Buy”, but now the secondary education

is obligatory as well. When we asked why they did not transfer the child to another school if they

were not satisfied with “Gjorgi Sugarev”, one mother said: "the school always said you do

belong to this school your child must be enrolled here”.

"I have a nephew where upon enrollment in the first grade he needed to be enrolled only with

Roma children. If his mother and grandmother did not react, the child would have stayed to

study only with Roma. Now the situation has changed and the Roma themselves do not want to

enroll their children in Gjorgi Sugarev. "

"I do not want my children to be like me in Primary School. I want them to be more advanced

than me and know that education will bring them a better future."

- "We want children to have extra classes and quality education."

"In “Gjorgi Sugarev” teachers are like on holiday they do not care about the Roma children,

nobody is taking the responsibility and there are very often physical fights between the children

themselves”.

"In the class only Macedonians have good grades and the Roma children are always with very

bad grades."

"I do not know whether I will enrol my third child to Gjorgi Sugarev."

"Now children are more advanced since they are going in pre-school and do speak better

Macedonian."

25

According to the responses of the primary schools in Bitola the biggest problem is that the

reonization decision is not respected and non Roma parents do not enroll their children in

schools where they belong to based on the region and that is the reason that only Roma

classes are formed in Gjorgi Sugarev school. There is a big difference in terms of average

grade for Roma and non- Roma. For example, in the school "Gjorgi Sugarev" 80% of the

students are Roma and the school "Todor Angeleski" which is only a few dozen meters

away from "Gjorgi Sugarev" has only 10 Roma students.

The physical facilities of the school Gjorgi Sugarev are good and there are not any differences

from the other schools in this regard.

26

MUNICIPALITY OF SHTIP

In the Municipality of Shtip the total population is 47,796 while the number of Roma in the

municipality of Shtip is 2,195, according to the last census in 2002 in R. Macedonia.

Total population in the Municipality of Shtip according to nationality:15


Macedonians 41.670

Albanians 12

Turks 1.272

Roma 2.195

Vlachs 2.074

Serbs 297

Bosniaks 11

Other 265

Total 47.769

The Municipality of Shtip has adopted a new decision on reonization on 13.03.2014. The

difference between those two decisions is that now there are 13 regions and there were 12

reonization units and with the new decision the regions are explained in more details.

Big part of the responses from the schools to the question whether the reonization is respected

was that they respect reonization but they as well emphasized the opportunity that is given to the

parents and take in children who do not belong under that area.

In the Municipality of Shtip there are 5 Primary Schools. Throughout sending Request for free

access to information we received the following data for the distribution of students in these

schools, how many Roma have enrolled in each school, and how are the children distributed to

classes:

Primary School “Goce Delchev” total number of students 668 from which 234 Roma;

Primary School “Dimitar Vlahov” total number of students 987 from which 88 Roma;

Primary School “Tosho Arsov” 776 from which 62 Roma.

Primary School “Vancho Prke” total number of students 1.126 from which 55 Roma;

Primary School “Slavejko Arsov” total number of students 394 from which 2 Roma;

15 State Statistical Office, Census 2002. Available at http://www.stat.gov.mk/

http://www.stat.gov.mk/Publikacii/knigaXIII.pdf

27

The largest number of Roma children are stidying in Primary School "Goce Delchev", where

the total number of students is 668, out of which 234 Roma.

Primary School "Goce Delchev" from 2011 to 2016 enrolments in the first grade Number of students enrolled in first grade in the Primary School

"Goce Delchev "

Roma Other Total

2011/2012 56 57 113

2012/2013 46 45 91

2013/2014 30 49 79

2014/2015 31 50 81

2015/2016 32 55 87

2016/2017 20 40 60

Regarding the ethnic composition of the students at the Primary School "Goce Delchev " in the

2015/2016 school year, the majority of students were Macedonian 385, then Roma 234, Turks

37, Vlachs 11 and 1 Serb.


Grades 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016 Roma Other Total

Total number of

students in

school in school

year

747 726 749 682 668

First 113 91 78 81 87 195 255 450

Second 81 108 105 80 81 201 254 455

Third 77 73 104 85 77 166 248 416

Fourth 64 74 74 93 85 156 234 390

Fifth 76 64 75 70 81 125 241 366

Sixth 102 80 62 68 72 128 256 384

Seventh 89 85 80 53 64 103 268 371

Eighth 68 87 85 73 50 82 281 363

Ninth 77 64 86 79 71 77 300 377

Allocation of children into classes in the school year 2015/2016:

I-1 I-2 I-3 I-4

8 13 14 14

II-1 II-2 II-3

7 15 16

III-1 III-2 III-3

14 11 8

IV-1 IV-2 IV-3

15 11 12

28

V-1 V-2 V-3

8 13 10

VI-1 VI-2 VI-3 VI-4

6 7 9 9

VII-1 VII-2 VII-3

9 9 9

VIII-1 VIII-2 VIII-3

8 4 8

IX-1 IX-2 IX-3

5 6 6

The enrollment process of first graders at the Primary School "Goce Delchev" is not being

implemented according to the reonization decision. As we can see from the information received

by the school, the distribution of Roma children in mixed classes is done properly.

Students’ average success grade for the 2015/2016 school year is 3.99, while the average success

grade of Roma students for the same school year is 1.87, which is twice lower achievement.

Primary School “Dimitar Vlahov”

In the Primary School “Dimitar Vlahov” in the school year 2015/2016 there are in total 987

students, out of which 88 are Roma students.

Number of students enrolled in first grade in the Primary School

“Dimitar Vlahov”

Roma Other Total

2011/2012 6 98 104

2012/2013 8 102 110

2013/2014 35 98 134

2014/2015 12 93 105

2015/2016 20 137 157

2016/2017 8 100 108

The ethnic composition of students at the Primary School "Dimitar Vlahov" in the 2015/2016

school year was the following: Macedonians 817, then Roma 88, Turks 46, and Vlachs 36.

29

Number of students by school year from 2011 to 2016.:

Grades 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016 Roma Others Total

Total number of

students in school

in school year

942 943 956 951 987

First 109 111 133 105 157 20 137 157

Second 103 106 111 127 102 6 96 102

Third 135 103 107 113 119 14 105 119

Fourth 111 137 100 108 112 9 103 112

Fifth 74 107 134 97 110 6 109 115

Sixth

VIII 103

IX 104

/

73

/

107

/

131

/

97 /

3

/

96

103

99

Seventh VIII 113

IX /

94

102

/

70

/

101

/

127 /

13

/

114

207

127

Eighth VIII 90

IX /

110 92

102

/

69

/

97 /

12

/

85

292

268

Ninth / / / 100 69 / 69 69

Allocation of Roma students in classes:

I-1 I-2 I-3 I-4 I-5

3 3 6 2 5

II-1 II-2 II-3 II-4

/ 1 4 /


1 1 / 1 14

IV-1 IV-2 IV-3 IV-4

3 3 1 2

V-1 V-2 V-3 V-4

1 3 1 1

VI-1 VI-2 VI-3 VI-4

0 1 0 1

VII-1 VII-2 VII-3 VII-4

6 3 1 2

VIII-1 VIII-2 VIII-3 VIII-4

0 4 3 1

IX-1 IX-2 IX-3 IX-4

/ / /

According to the reonization decision, in first grade 55 students hav been enrolled, but there are

students who do not belong to the region and who are enrolled in this school. The distribution by

30

classes is performed according to gender, nationality, social structure, social and emotional

characteristics.

In this school we can see that for some years they took care to distribute the Roma children

proportionally in different classes, but for example in the 3th grade (now fourth grade) there are

in total 17 Roma children and only in one class there are 14 Roma.

The average success of students in the academic year 2015/2016 is 4.04, while the average

success of Roma students is 2.51, much different from other students.

Primary School “Tosho Arsov”

In the Primary School “Tosho Arsov” in the school year 2015/2016, there is a total number of

776 pupils, out of which 62 Roma.

Number of children in first grade Roma Others Total

2011/2012 11 80 91

2012/2013 7 73 80

2013/2014 8 72 80

2014/2015 11 84 95

2015/2016 12 56 71

2016/2017 10 83 93

The ethnic composition of the Primary School “Tosho Arsov” in the school year 2015/2016 is:

Macedonians 655, Roma 62, Turks 16, Vlachs 43.


Classes 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016 Roma Others Total

Total number 824 801 797 804 776

First 89 83 82 99 73 11 78 89

Second 97 92 82 84 100 6 91 97

Third 104 96 90 77 78 8 96 104

Forth 96 100 96 84 73 4 92 96

Fifth 57 98 100 95 84 2 55 57

Sixth 190 65 97 105 103 11 179 190

Seventh 81 186 65 101 102 3 78 81

Eight 110 81 VIII – 89

IX- 96

66 100 1 109 110

96

Night / / / 93 63 2 91 93

31

Allocation of Roma children into classes:

I-1 I-2 I-3

3 5 4

II-1 II-2 II-3

2 4 5

III-1 III-2 III-3

2 3 3

IV-1

3

V-1 V-2 V-3

3 2 /

VI-1 VI-2 VI-3

1 1 2

VII-1 VII-2 VII-3

/ / 2

IX-1 IX-2 IX-3

1 2 2

The enrollment into first grade in this school is performed according to the decision for

reonization, but there were some exemptions.

The allocation into classes have been made taking in consideration the nationality and gender.

The average success in the school year 2015/2016 is 3.62 while the average success of Roma

students is 1.75, which is twice lower achievement.

Primary School “Vancho Prke”

In Primary School “Vancho Prke” in the 2015/2016 school year there were a total of 1.126

students, out of which 55 Roma students.

Number of students enrolled in first grade in the Primary School “Vancho Prke” Roma Other Total

2011/2012 2 138 140

2012/2013 7 131 138

2013/2014 8 112 120

2014/2015 3 99 102

2015/2016 3 121 124

2016/2017 10 111 121

32

The ethnicity composition of the Primary School “Vancho Prke” in the 2015/2016 school year is:

1.003 Macedonians, 55 Roma, 44 Turks, 21 Vlachs and 3 others.


Classes 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016

Total number of students in school in school

year

First 138 120 102 124 121

Second 136 144 123 124 130

Third 136 139 146 118 126

Fourth 123 143 141 146 116

Fifth 116 127 142 142 140

Six 144 120 127 129 142

Seventh 138 145 118 118 124

Eighth 135 139 150 115 119

Ninth 133 138 136 143 108

Allocation of Roma students in classes:

I-1 I-2 I-3 I-4 I-5 I-6 I-7

1 2 6 2 / 3 /

II-1 II-2 II-3 II-4 II-5 II-6 II-7

1 2 1 / / / /

III-1 III-2 III-3 III-4 III-5 III-6

/ 3 3 1 / /

IV-1 IV-2 IV-3 IV-4 IV-5 IV-6

2 / 1 2 1 2

V-1 V-2 V-3 V-4 V-5 V-6 V-7

2 2 1 1 2 2 /

VI-1 VI-2 VI-3 VI-4 VI-5 VI-6 VI-7

/ / / / 1 / /

VII-1 VII-2 VII-3 VII-4 VII-5 VII-6 VII-7

/ / / / / / /

VIII-1 VIII-2 VIII-3 VIII-4 VIII-5 VIII-6 VIII-7

1 / 2 2 / 1

IX-1 IX-2 IX-3 IX-4 IX-5 IX-6

2 1 1 1 1 /

Special

classes

With mild

disability

I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX

1 / / / / 2 1 4 /

With combined

disability


1 / / / / / / / /

33

According to the reonization in this school in the first grade are enrolled 95 students, but there

are students who do not belong to the area but are enrolled in the school.

Allocation into classes was made according to the number of students, gender, nationality and

social status.

Average success of students of the school in the academic year 2015/2016 is 4.39 while the

average success of Roma students is 3.21.

Average grade in the schools in the municipality of Shtip:

School Average grade Average grade of the Roma children

“Goce Delchev” 3,99 1.87

“Dimitar Vlahov” 4.04 2.51

“Tosho Arsov” 3.62 1.75

“Vancho Prkje” 4.39 3.21

“Slavejko Arsov” 4.16 3.01

Conducted interviews in Municipality of Shtip

Interviews with the school principal and class teachers in the primary school “Goce Delchev”,

parents as well as with representatives of the NGO “Cherenja”.16

The principal of Primary School "Goce Delchev" noted that reonization is a problem. “Near the

school there is a Roma neighbourhood and there is no problem with them since the students from

that neighbourhood are enrolled in school. The problem is with the non-Roma parents This

school is named Goce Delchev, but it is called pejoratively as "gypsy school". The Roma parents

too upon enrolment in the first grade emphasize that they want their children to be placed in

mixed classes with Roma and non-Roma.

As another problem when enrolling in the first grade, noted by the Principal is that for 54 non-

Roma students belonging, based on the region, in the "Goce Delchev" in this academic year, the

parents already decided to enrol them in another school. The Principal noted that there is a

danger in the future to form purely Roma classes. In the school the elective subjects are Romani

and Vlach language and have dispersed classes in Turkish language.

The answer to the question for the distribution of students by grades was: "we have become a

service centre for parents, because the parents come and tell us in which class they want their

child to be and blackmail us by claiming that they will switch to another school, this is a

situation that occurs with the Roma too"

16 Cherenja is a Roma NGO active on a local level in municipality of Shtip.

34

Primary school teacher:

“The students are at first arranged on desks as needed, if a child can help to achieve similar

success. Average success of the class is 4.45 while for the Roma pupils we do not keep separate

records but it is around 3. The reason for poor performance of Roma students is indifference of

the parents who do not take care whether the children would come to school. They will see that

the weather conditions are not good and immediately they do not sent them to school. Parental

education has an effect. Those who have more education are different. To the meetings with

parents often have parents who come to the meetings and have parents who do not come at all to

these meetings. We regularly maintain additional courses and they gave good results. There are

no complaints received from parents both Roma and non-Roma. There is no violence between

children and if there is a verbal assault we allways solve it with a conversation.”

NGO “Cherenja”:

The NGO presented that Shtip has still some children who do not attend school and are on the

street or seasonal work with the parents and that there is still a lot work to be done regarding the

literacy of children and parents.

"There are teachers who do not want to pay more attention to Roma children. In cases of mixed

classes much less attention is paid to Roma children."

Parents:

Roma parents enroll their children in school where they belong according to reonization. All

interviewed parents did not complain about the attitude of teachers towards them and their

children. Children are in mixed classes with Roma and non-Roma, placed on the first desks with

both Roma and non-Roma classmates. So far, the children had no problem in school, with their

classmates or with the school staff. There are children who do not know the Macedonian

language and have difficulties in acquiring knowledge.

Children learn Romani language and culture as an optional subject.

In the Municipality of Shtip general problem is disrespecting the reonization and the

disproportional distribution of Roma pupils in classes in certain schools. The difference

in terms of average success varies from school to school but generally success of Roma

students is much weaker.

35

MUNICIPALITY OF GAZI BABA

In the Municipality of Gazi Baba in Skopje total number of population is 72.222, and the number

of Roma population in this municipality is 2.082 or in percentage it is 2,88% according to the

last population census in the Republic of Macedonia from 2002

The table below shows total number of population in the Municipality of Gazi Baba based

on ethnicity17:

Еthnic groups Population

Macedonians 53,106

Albanians 12,502

Turks 606

Roma 2.082

Vlachs 236

Serbs 2094

Bosniaks 710

Other 886

Total 72,222

Municipality of Gazi Baba adopted a decision for reonization on 17th of September 2009. On the

question whether the reonization is respected in practice, the most of responses given by schools

is positive i.e. that it is respected, but as it is in other schools, the given opportunity to the parents

to choose in which school to enrol their children, is emphasized (if there are free seats in the

chosen school).

Municipality of Gazi Baba has 11 primary schools:

Primary School “Dane Krapchev” – total number of primary school students is 840 from

which 146 are Roma;

Primary School “Njegosh” total number of school students 603 of which 100 are Roma

17 State Statistical Office, Population Census 2002, available at: http://www.stat.gov.mk/Publikacii/knigaXIII.pdf


36

Primary School “Naum Naumovski Borche” – total number of primary school students is

566 from which 80 are Roma;

Primary School “Stiv Naumov” – total number of primary school students is 861 from

which 11 are Roma;

Primary School “Vera Jocikj” – total number of primary school students is 522 from

which 9 are Roma;

Primary School “Krste Misirkov” – total number of primary school is 656 from which 7

are Roma;

Primary School “Kiril I Metodij” – total number of primary school students is 468 from

which 4 are Roma;

Primary School “Krumе Toshev” – total number of primary school students is 302 from

which 1 is Roma;

Primary School “Grigor Prlichev” – total number of primary school students is 317 from

which 1 is Roma;

Primary School “25 Maj” – total number of primary school students is 1403 from which

1 is Roma;

Primary School “Naum Ohridski” – total number of primary school students is 316, no

Roma students;

Taking in consideration the number of primary school Roma students in Municipality Gazi Baba,

the highest number are enrolled in the Primary School “Dane Krapchev”. Namely, total

number of primary school students is 840 from which 146 are Roma. Number of primary school

students in this school comparably enrolled from 2011 to 2016 is visible in the table below:

Number of enrolled students in the first grade in "Dane Krapchev" Roma Other Total

2011/2012 161 780 941

2012/2013 143 756 899

2013/2014 156 743 899

2014/2015 149 738 887

2015/2016 146 694 840

2016/2017 / / / / / /

Having in mind the ethnicity, during the 2015/2016 school year in the Primary School “Dane

Krapchev”, 615 are Macedonians, 146 are Roma, 41 are Albanian, 5 are Turks, 3 are Vlachos, 16

are Serbs, 9 are Bosnians and 5 are part of another ethnicity.

37

In the table below, we can see total number of primary school students enrolled between 2011

and 2016 in this primary school subdivided years and how many of them are Roma:

Classes 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016 Roma Other Total

Total number

of students in

school in

school year

939 907 893 883 840 146 694 840

First 83 27 56 83

Second 97 19 78 97

Third 95 19 76 95

Fourth 95 9 86 95

Fifth 80 15 65 80

Six 104 18 86 104

Seventh 96 15 81 96

Eighth 90 12 78 90

Ninth 100 12 88 100

*we received answers only for the school year 2015/2016

Allocation of primary school Roma students in classes:

I-1 I-2 I-3 I-4

5 6 8 8

II-1 II-2 II-3 II-4

4 5 7 3

III-1 III-2 III-3 III-4

5 8 4 2

IV-1 IV-2 IV-3 IV-4

1 2 4 2

V-1 V-2 V-3 V-4

3 3 5 2

VI-1 VI-2 VI-3 VI-4

4 3 9 2

VII-1 VII-2 VII-3 VII-4

1 3 6 5

VIII-1 VIII-2 VIII-3 VIII-4

2 5 3 2

IX-1 IX-2 IX-3 IX-4

3 3 4 2

38

According to reonization, in the first grade 71 primary school students are enrolled, but also

there are 6 students that are enrolled in this school, but they are from another region. Layout of

the primary school students in different classes is established in advance i.e. during the testing

each student is evaluated on aspects as gender, ethnicity and if some students have special

educational needs.

Average success of the primary school students in school year 2015/2016 is 3,75 and average

success of Roma students is 2,75.

Primary School “Njegosh”

In the Primary School “Njegosh” in the school year 2015/2016 there are in total 603 children

enrolled of which 100 are Roma.

Number of children in first grade in the Primary School “Njegosh” Roma Others Total

2011/2012 16 50 66

2012/2013 17 51 68

2013/2014 6 67 73

2014/2015 15 62 77

2015/2016 16 50 66

2016/2017 15 65 80

The ethnic composition of the school “Njegosh” in the school year i2015/2016 is Macedonians

342, Роми 100, АAlbanians 153, Bosniaks 5, Serbs 2 and others 1.

Number of children in school years from 2011 to 2016:

School years 2011/

2012

2012/

2013

2013/

2014

2014/

2015

2015/

2016

2016/

2017

Roma Others Total

Total number 635 624 603 605 590 603

First 80 15 65 80

Second 70 14 56 70

Third 77 15 62 77

Forth 77 10 67 77

Fifth 64 11 53 64

Sixth 57 9 48 57

Seventh 66 8 58 66

Eight 51 6 45 51

Ninth 61 11 50 61

Allocation of Roma children into classes 2015/2016:

I-а I-b

8 5

39

II-а II-b

4 7

III-а III-b

10 5

IV-а IV-b

4 6

V-а V-b

4 7

VI-а VI-b

5 4

VII-а VII-b

5 4

VIII-а VIII-b

7 3

IX-а IX-b

4 4

The school answered that they are enrolling students only according to the reonization decision.

Distribution of students per class is done according to gender, age, place of residence (because

the children usually travel together) etc.

The average school performance for 2015/2016 school year is 3.82 while the school does not

keep separate records on average school performance for different ethnicity because it is not in

accordance with the guidelines and criteria of the ministry.

Primary School “Naum Naumovski Borche”

In this primary school total number of primary school students is 566 from which 80 are Roma.

Number of students enrolled in first grade PS "Naum Naumovski Borce" Roma Other Total

2011/2012 9 45 54

2012/2013 6 59 65

2013/2014 6 56 62

2014/2015 14 44 58

2015/2016 12 44 56

2016/2017 / / /

Ethnicity composition in this school in the school year 2015/2016 is: Macedonians 467, Roma

80, Albanians 5, Bosnians 8, Serbs 5 and 1 Vlach.

40


Allocation of Roma students in different classes:

I-a I-b

6 6

II-a II-b

6 7

III-A III-b III-c

2 / 5

IV-a IV-b IV-c

2 1 3

V-a V-b

5 2

VI-a VI-b VI-c

1 3 4

VII-a VII-b VII-c

5 2 2

VIII-a VIII-b VIII-c

2 5 4

IX-a IX-b

3 4

According to the reonization, students that live in that region are enrolled and if there are free

places, there is a possibility for students from another region to be enrolled, too. The layout of

students in different classes is made proportionally on base of the gender, education degree of

their parents, social status and living address.

Data for the

school

years:

Total

number

of

students

in

primary

school

First

grade

Second

grade

Third

grade

Fourth

grade

Fifth

grade

Sixth

grade

Seventh

grade

Eight

grade

Ninth

grade

Roma Other Total

2011/2012 614 54 67 71 84 60 69 77 59 73 90 524 614

2012/2013 d 607 65 57 67 69 83 62 70 76 58 88 519 607

2013/2014 d 601 62 69 54 66 70 82 58 67 73 77 524 601

2014/2015 d 586 58 65 64 54 68 71 84 58 64 85 501 586

2015/2016 d 575 56 59 65 64 52 66 72 81 60 85 490 575

Total for all

school years

2983 295 317 321 337 333 350 361 341 328 425 2558 2983

41

The average success of students in the school year 2015/2016 is from 3.95 to 4.27 but the school

doesn’t have data for the average succes of the ethnicityies.

Primary School „Stiv Naumov“

The primary school “Stiv Naumov" from Gazi Baba has a total of 861 students in the academic

year 2015/2016 of which 11 are Roma.

Number of students enrolled in first grade in "Stiv Naumov" Roma Others Total

2011/2012 / 86 86

2012/2013 16 119 135

2013/2014 3 97 100

2014/2015 1 103 104

2015/2016 1 99 100

2016/2017 / / /

The ethnic composition "Stiv Naumov" in the academic year 2015/2016 831 Macedonians,

Roma 11, 2 Albanians, Bosnians 3, 5 Serbs, Vlachs 2, Turks 2 and 5 others.

According to the school years 2011-2016 total students:

Data for the

study:

2011/

2012

2012/

2013

2013/

2014

2014/

2015

2015

/2016

Roma

Other

Female Male

gender

Total

2011/2012 d

2012/2013 d

2013/2014 d

2014/2015 d

2015/2016 d

16

17

13

11

11

898

884

891

882

850

422

436

425

473

415

492

465

479

420

446

914

901

904

893

861

First grade 135 100 104 100 100

Second

grade

87 128 97 102 102

Third grade 124 85 122 96 96

Fourth grade 122 120 80 115 115

Fifth grade 68 121 120 76 76

Sixth grade

116 65 117 118 118

Seventh

grade

90 113 63 111 111

Eight grade 79 90 111 64 64

Ninth grade 93 79 90 111 111

Allocation of Roma children into classes in 2015/2016:


1 / 2 7 / 1 / / /

The principles from this school answered that they do enrol children based on the reonization

decision except if there are free places they can enrol children from other reons.

42

Distribution of students per class is done according to the preference of parents, whether children

are with full-day classes or classical classes, if the child has sufficient knowlege that has been

shonw on the first enrollment tests, according to gender, socio-cultural status of the family etc.

Average school performance 2015/2016 school year is 4.40 while the average success of Roma

pupils in the last three years is good.

Average grade in the schools in the municipality of Gazi Baba:

School Average grade Average grade of Roma students

Dane Krapchev 3,75 2.75

Njegosh 3.82 No available data

Naum Naumovski Borche 3.95-4.27 No available data

Stiv Naumov 4.40 3.0

Krste Misirkov 4.35 No available data

Vera Jocik 4.19 3.46

Cyril and Methodius 4.34 3.00

Krume Toshev 3.90 2.00

25 May 4.20 No Roma students

Naum Ohridski 4.16 No Roma students

Grigor Prlichev 4.63 No Roma students

Conducted interviews in Municipality Gazi Baba

In the Primary School “Dane Krapchev” interviews were conducted with the pedagogue, two

teachers from class teaching and with parents.

Pedagogue:

Composition of the primary school students is mixed, the most numerous are Macedonians, then

Roma and lower number are Turks, Bosnians and Serbs. The number of students is increasing

year by year. 5 Roma at most in one class. The wish of their parents is taken into consideration

during the enrolment in the first grade if there are free places. There are no teachers from any

ethnicity. The teaching subject “Roma language and culture” is optional, but parents don’t

choose it. There are no complaints submitted by any Roma parent about teachers. “There have

been complaints by parents about the lack of financial sources for notebooks and other school

materials. We cooperate with Advisory Centre for children and parents established in

Municipality Gazi Baba and the uniforms for the Roma students are provided.” The most

repetitive cases when parents are called for advising are because of the irregularity on classes

and more than 3 low marks.

43

Teacher:

The layout of the student is made on the student’s temperament and in order to establish mixed

heterogeneous groups. Average success is 4 but when we speak about Roma students, it depends

- some of them are excellent, some are very good and some are good. Additional classes are

obligatory organized and they give positive effect.

Parents from “Dane Krapchev”:

They enrol our children as they live according to the reonization. Teachers’ behaviour is good

and they tell us how our children can improve their success in school. My kid is always in mixed

composition and always seats in the front seats because it is harder for him to understand the

teaching materials and if has some problem asks the teacher. So far parents weren’t told about

the facultative subject “Roma language and culture”. “I have no reason to submit a lawsuit

because my two kids study in this school and they don’t have any complaint against teachers

there.”

In the municipality of Gazi Baba there is also a possibility to enrol children that do not

belong to that particular school according to the reonization decision of the municipality

but there isn’t a manipulation of the decision in a way to form ethnically clean Roma

schools or classes. If we compare the situation with Bitola or Shtip we can see that the

reonization decisions are more or less respected. Anyhow the average success and

performance of Roma and non-Roma children is still highly visible in every school.

44

MUNICIPALITY OF GJORCE PETROV

In the Municipality of Gjorce Petrov total population is 41,634 while the number of Roma is

1.249 according to the last census in 2002 R. Macedonia.18

Total population of the Municipality of Gjorce Petrov by nationality:


Macedonians 35,455

Albanians 1.597

Turks 368

Roma 1,249

Vlachs 109

Serbs 1.730

Bosniaks 489

Other 637

Total 41,634

Municipality Gjorce Petrov has made a decision on reonization on 25.06.2009. The received

answers were that the schools do respect the reonization decisions but also they give the

opportunity to the parents to decide where to enroll their child if there is a free space in the

school they want their child to be enrolled.

Municipality of Gjorce Petrov has 6 Primary Schools:

Primary School "Strasho Pindzur" total number 603 of which 139 Roma.

"Gjorce Petrov" total number of 217 students of which 35 Roma.

"Mirce Acev" total 780 students of which 16 Roma.

„Joakim Krchoski„ total number 547 of which 7 are Roma.

"Dimitar Pop Berovski" total number of 548 students, of which 1 Roma.

"Tihomir Miloshevski" has total number of students 530 and no Roma student .

The number of children can be seen in the following table: Number of children enrolled in first grade Roma Others Total

2011/2012 187 463 650

2012/2013 188 459 647

2013/2014 198 473 671

2014/2015 173 457 630

18 State Statistical office, Census 2002, Available at: http://www.stat.gov.mk.


45

2015/2016 153 449 602

2016/2017 139 464 603

According to the information received the highest number of Roma children are in the Primary

School “Strasho Pindzur” where from the total number of 603 children 139 are Roma.

Total number in school years in the period 2011-2016:

School year 2011/2012

2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016

Total number 650 647 671 630 603

First grade 75 68 89 58 69

Second grade 71 86 77 78 71

Third grade 94 69 84 74 56

Fourth grade 54 94 67 79 70

Fifth 76 53 93 65 72

Sixth 73 77 51 90 74

Seventh 72 71 71 53 64

Eight 61 71 69 70 83

Night 74 58 70 66 44

Allocation of Roma children into classes 2015/2016.

I-а I-b I-v

4 4 8

II-а II-b II-v

3 4 7

III-а III-b III-v

7 6 4

IV-а IV-b IV-v

7 4 6

V-а V-b V-v

3 5 7

VI-а VI-b VI-v

3 5 3

VII-а VII-b VII-v VII-g

9 8 10 /

VIII-а VIII-b VIII-v

3 2 /

IX-а IX-b IX-v XI-g

3 1 9 5

Enrolling students in this school according to the information received is in accordance with the

reonization decision.

46

When allocating students into classes, school takes in consideration the number of children in

classes, ethnicity and gender.

The average grade success in the school year 2015/2016 is 4.18 while the average success of

Roma students is 2.66.

Primary school "Gjorce Petrov"

In this primary school enrolled into first grade, the school year 2015/2016 there is total number

of 201 student, from whom 35 are Roma.

Number of students enrolled in first grade PS "Gjorce Petrov" Roma Other Total

2011/2012 2 24 26

2012/2013 6 32 38

2013/2014 8 42 50

2014/2015 8 32 40

2015/2016 3 37 40

2016/2017 5 43 48

The ethnic composition at the "Gjorce Petrov" in the academic year 2015/2016 is 106

Macedonians, Roma 35, 7 Albanians, Turks 16 and others 53.


Data for the study: 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016 Roma Other Total

Total number of students in

Primary School "Gorche

Petrov"

288 288 296 294 305 35

First grade 26 38 50 40 40 2

Second grade 37 36 42 50 39 4

Third grade 32 38 33 40 49 11

Fourth grade 29 31 38 30 37 7

Fifth grade 20 27 31 36 27 1

Sixth grade 18 21 26 29 39 /

Seventh grade 35 22 21 26 29 7

Eight grade 41 34 22 22 24 3

Ninth grade 50 41 33 21 21

47



3 7 7 5 4 3 5 1 /

The enrolment in this school is exclusively according to the reonization decision.

Distribution of students per class is done according to the preference of parents whether their

children will be a full day in school or in classical teaching.

Average success rate of students in the academic year 2015/2016 is 4.15 while the average

success of Roma students is different there are students with good, very good and excellent

marks.

Primary School "Mirche Acev"

In "Mirce Acev" in municipality of Gjorce Petrov has a total of 780 students in the academic

year 2015/2016, of which 16 are Roma.

Number of students enrolled in first grade "Mirce Acev" Roma Other Total

2011/2012 4 102 106

2012/2013 3 104 107

2013/2014 1 76 77

2014/2015 / 66 66

2015/2016 4 89 90

2016/2017 1 69 70

The ethnic composition of "Mirce Acev" in the academic year 2015/2016 is 731 Macedonians,

Roma 16, 1 Albanian, Bosniaks 7, 12 Serb, Turks 10, Vlachs 2 and 1other.

Number of students by school year from 2011 to 2016:

Data for the study: 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016 Roma Other Total

Total number of students

in Primary School

"Mirce Acev "

771 876 836 799 779

First grade 106 107 77 66 89 13 502 516

Second grade 104 109 111 79 67 16 454 470

Third grade 84 101 105 111 77 20 458 478

Fourth grade 95 86 98 101 109 16 473 489

Fifth grade 69 92 82 96 99 13 425 438

Sixth grade 105 71 94 82 96 21 427 448

48

Seventh grade 106 204 68 95 80 20 533 553

Eight grade 102 106 201 66 95 17 553 570

Ninth grade / / / 103 67 6 164 170


I-а I-b

3 1

II-а II-b II-v

/ / 1

III-а III-b III-v

/ 2 /

IV-а IV-b IV-v IV-g

1 1 1 1

V-а V-b V-v V-g

/ 1 / /

VI-а VI-b VI-v VI-g

/ / / /

VII-а VII-b VII-v

1 1 /

VIII-а VIII-b VIII-v VIII-g

/ / / 1

IX-а IX-b IX-v

/ 1 /

Enrolment of students is based on the reonization decisions but there are exceptions. In first

grade and enrolled 72 students mostly belonging under reonization decision.

Distribution of students per class is done according to the internal procedure and methodology.

The average school performance in the 2015/2016 school year is 4.47 while the average success

of Roma students is 2.97.

Average grade performance in the schools in municipality of Gjorche Petrov:

School Average grade Average grade of Roma children

Strasho Pindzur 4,18 2.66

Gjorche Petrov 4.15 Good

Mirche Acev 4.47 2.97

Dimitar pop Berovski 4.00 3.0

Tihomir Miloshevski 4.58 No Roma children

49

Joakim Krchovski 4.22 4.52

Interviews conducted in the Municipality of Gjorce Petrov

In the primary school "Strasho Pindzur" interviews were conducted with the director, pedagogue

and two teachers.

Director "Strasho Pindzur":

In the primary school "Strasho Pindzur" the composition of students is mixed "We can be an

example of school in the city of Skopje and beyond as a school that totally respect the

reonization but of course there are very few exceptions, the methodology of distribution of

students is like in all other schools, the guidelines and rules provided are followed. “

Teachers:

The interviewed teachers noted that they have problems with the irregular attendance of the

children and with not interested parents. Children have no problem communicating with each

other they do not care who is Roma and who is not, but the parents always come with such

prejudice.

The average grade of the class is 4.70 and the average success of Roma students is 2.70-3. On

the question why the Roma children have visibly lower success rate the answer was: "I'm talking

in general, contacts with Roma students are within the normal range during the hours but they

are not interested in class simply can not wait to finish the classes and leave, I try to keep the

attention during the lectures by giving them tasks such as copying or drawing of lessons because

most of them are illiterate, I do not look for reasons why they are illiterate (because I took them

from 5th grade) and it is not my job. I tried with several students to work on their literacy but it

does not gave any result, I do not know the reasons why they are not interested."

Another teacher noted that with the parents with whom she have regular meetings and have have

good cooperation there is no problem with the success of Roma students.

From the interviews can be observed the behaviour of the teachers in stereotyping and generalizing

the behavior of Roma parents and children.

There are no problems with reonization in this school but there are discrepancies in the success

rates between Roma and non-Roma children.

In the Municipality of Gjorce Petrov the reonization decision is respected but the success of Roma

pupils very much differ from non-Roma.

50

MUNICIPALITY OF KUMANOVO

The total population of the Municipality of Kumanovo is 105.484 while the number of Roma in

is 4.256 according to the last census in 2002 in R. Macedonia.19

Total population in the Municipality of Kumanovo according to nationality:


Macedonians 63.746.

Albanians 27.290

Turks 292

Roma 4.256

Vlachs 147

Serbs 9.062

Bosniaks 20

Others 671

Total 105.484

Municipality of Kumanovo has adopted a decision on reonization on 04.12.2014.

On the question if the decision for reonization is respected by the schools, higher number of

schools answered that they do respect the decision but there is a possibility, according to the law,

that the parents can enroll their child in another school if there is a free place.

In the Municipality of Kumanovo there are 7 Primary Schools from which 3 responded to our

request for free access to information and those are the following Primary Schools:

Primary School „Hristijan Karpos” total number 1223 from whom 132 Roma.

Primary School “11th of October” total number of students 486 from which 90 Roma.

Primary School „Braka Miladinovci“ total number 1.073 of whom 72 Roma.

Primary School „Krste Misirkov“ total number 1.021 of whom 55 Roma.

Primary School „Toli Zodrumis“ total number 554 of whom 22 Roma.

19 State Statistical Office, Census 2002. Available at: http://www.stat.gov.mk.

http://www.stat.gov.mk./

51

Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” total number of students 143 from whom 13 Roma.

Primary School “Kocho Racin” total number of students 1.308 from whom 6 Roma.

Regarding the number of Roma students in Municipality of Kumanovo, the largest number of

Roma children are enrolled in the Primary School “Hristijan Karposh” with a total number of

1235 children of which 132 are Roma.

The number of children enrolled in this school in the period 2011-2016 can be seen in the

table below. Number of children enrolled in “Hristijan Karposh”

Roma Others Total

2011/2012 25 130 155

2012/2013 26 139 165

2013/2014 30 114 144

2014/2015 20 120 140

2015/2016 24 127 151

2016/2017 36 118 154

The ethnic composition in this school in the school year 2015/2016 is Macedonians 1070, Roma

132, Serbs 32 and Turks 1.

According to school years in the period 2011-2016 total number :

School years 2011/2012

2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016

Total number 1486 1345 1212 1342 1223

First grade 25 26 21 23 24


Third grade 15 19 15 20 16


Fifth grade 33 8 13 17 7

Sixth grade 30 20 12 21 11

Seventh grade 36 14 5 28 6

Eight grade 47 7 4 14 4

Ninth grade 35 3 4 4 2

Allocation of Roma students into classes 2015/2016:

I-а I-b I-v I-g I-d

5 4 6 5 4

II-а II-b II-v II-g II-d

6 2 3 4 5

III-а III-b III-v III-g III-d

2 3 5 5 1

IV-а IV-b IV-v IV-g IV-d

52

2 1 3 1 2

V-а V-b V-v V-g V-d

/ 3 1 1 2

VI-а VI-b VI-v VI-g VI-d

3 1 2 1 4

VII-а VII-b VII-v VII-g VII-d

/ 2 / 2 2

VIII-а VIII-b VIII-v VIII-g VIII-d

2 / 2 / /

IX-а IX-b IX-v XI-g XI-

0 1 / 1 /

The allocation of students is in accordance with reonization, but there is an exemption and in

total 5 children are enrolled in the school that do not belong to this region. Into first grade

children are enrolled according to the decision but there are also enrolled children from another

reons who have a document for enrolment in that school given by the municipality.

The allocation of children in classes is according to the Law on education.

The average success rate in the school year 2015/2016 is 3.82, but they do not possess data for

Roma children.

In the Primary School "11th of October" with total number of 486 students out of which 90

Roma.

Primary School "11th of October " from 2011 to 2016 enrolments into the first grade: Number of enrolled children in the Primary School “11 October”

Roma Others Total

2011/2012 16 39 56

2012/2013 19 41 60

2013/2014 12 37 49

2014/2015 17 28 45

2015/2016 17 33 50

2016/2017 12 42 54

The ethnic composition of the Primary School “11th of October” in the 2015/2016 school year is

257 Macedonians, 90 Roma, 137 Serbs and other 2.

53


School years 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016 Roma Others Total

Total number of

children

623 610 573 527 486 133

127

118

100

90

490

483

455

427

396

623

610

573

527

486

First 56 60 49 45 50

Second 55 53 56 42 42

Third 57 49 54 54 41

Forth 65 57 43 52 49

Fifth 53 68 56 39 48

Sixth

VIII 86

IX 95

/

69

/

78

75 49

Seventh VIII /

IX 88

82

89

/

71

74 74

Eight VIII /

IX 69

/

89

78

88

/

69

71

/

71

Ninth / / / 79 62

Allocation of students into classes in the school year 2015/2016

I-а I-b

9 9

II-а II-b

6 4

III-а III-b

6 2

IV-а IV-b

5 7

V-а V-b

5 4

VI-а VI-b VI-v VI-g

3 3 / /

VII-а VII-b VII-v VII-g

3 3 4 2

VIII-а VIII-b VIII-v VIII-g

4 2 / /

IX-а IX-b IX-v IX-g

1 6 1 /

54

"Enrollment of the first graders is not conducted under reonization because part of the children

from our district are being enrollnd in other schools in the downtown area."

The allocation into classes in first grade is made according to the gender, number of children,

nationality and depending of the wish of their parents about the shift they want their children to

be enrolled.

Average school performance for 2015/2016 school year is 4.08, while the average success of

Roma is not measured.

Primary School „ Brakja Miladinovci“

In this school there are total number of 1.073 in the school year 2015/2016 of which 72 are

Roma.

Number of children enrolled in the school by year Roma Others Total

2011/2012 123 982 1105

2012/2013 107 965 1072

2013/2014 96 974 1069

2014/2015 83 985 1068

2015/2016 72 1001 1073

2016/2017 79 1037 1116

Ethnic composition in the school year 2015/2016 in this school: Macedonians 892, Roma 72,

Serbs 90 and others 19.

Number of students in the school years 2011-2016 into classes:

School years 2015/2016 Roma Others Total

Total number 1073 72 1001 1073

First grade 147 7 140 147

Second grade 133 12 121 133

Third grade 110 7 103 110

Fourth grade 108 11 97 108

Fifth grade 97 10 87 97

Sixth grade 131 3 128 131

Seventh grade 119 8 111 119

Eights grade 116 8 108 116

Ninth grade 112 6 106 112

55


I-1 I-2 I-3 I-4 I-5

1 1 2 3 /


2 3 / 3 /


1 2 / / 1


1 3 3 3 /

V-1 V-2 V-3 V-4 V-5

/ 3 2 4 /


/ 1 / / 1


2 2 1 0 1


1 2 2 1 1


1 1 1 2 /

Classes for children with special needs:

I-7 II-7 III-7 IV-7 V-7 VI-7 VII-7 VIII-7 IX-7

/ 4 3 1 1 / 3 1 1

The enrolment in the first grade is in accordance with the decision of reonization, there are

exceptions when the children are enrolled on parent’s request.

The allocation into classes sometimes is not in accordance with the criteria because the school

facilities are shared by two schools.

The average grade of children in the school year 2015/2016 is 4,35 but there isn’t a separate data

for Roma children.

Primary School “Krste Misirkov”

In this Primary School in the school year 2015/2016 there are total number оf 1.021 students of

whom 55 are Roma.

Number of children in first grade Roma Others Total

2011/2012 61 1.053 1.114

2012/2013 61 1.022 1.083

2013/2014 60 1.053 1.113

2014/2015 50 1.034 1.084

56

2015/2016 49 1.004 1.053

2016/2017 55 970 1.025

The ethnic composition in this school for the school year 2015/2016 is Macedonians 930, Roma

55, Serbs 30 and others 6.

Total number of children in school years in the period 2011-2016:

School years 2011/2012

2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016 Roma

Total number 1.114 1.083 1.113 1.077 1.054

First grade 9 10 9 13 41


Third grade 4 10 4 6 24


Fifth grade 6 4 2 6 18

Sixths 10 9 6 2 27

Seventh grade 4 6 8 4 22

Eights grade 3 3 3 6 15

Ninth grade 4 3 3 3 13

Allocation of Roma students into classes 2015/2016:

I-а I-b I-v I-g I-d

/ 5 4 / 1

II-а II-b II-v II-g II-d

1 1 4 / 2

III-а III-b III-v III-g III-d

2 2 1 3 /

IV-а IV-b IV-v IV-g IV-d

/ / / 2 /

V-а V-b V-v V-g V-d

1 2 / 2 1

VI-а VI-b VI-v VI-g VI-d

/ 1 / / 1

VII-а VII-b VII-v VII-g VII-d

/ 1 / / /

VIII-а VIII-b VIII-v VIII-g VIII-d

1 1 / 1 /

IX-а IX-b IX-v IX-g IX-d

/ 2 1 1 /

In the school there are 13 enrolled children from other region in the school year 2015/2016.

57

On the question which streets belong to the region the answer from the school was “According to

article 46 paragraph 4 and article 50 paragraph 2 parents can enroll their children from other

region, because the classes are not more than 34 students. In the school there are 13 students that

are from other region.”

The average grade of the students in this school is 4,39 while there is no data on the average

success rate of Roma students.

Primary School „Toli Zurdumis“

In this school in the school year 2015/2016 there are in total 554 students of whom 22 are Roma.

Number of children enrolled in first grade Roma Others Total

2011/2012 33 551 584

2012/2013 31 545 576

2013/2014 23 533 556

2014/2015 21 535 556

2015/2016 19 519 538

2016/2017 22 532 554

The ethnic composition of the school „Toli Zordumis“ in the school year 2015/2016

Macedonians 287, Roma 22, Albanians 208 и Serbs 37.

Number of children in the school year 2011-2016

Scool year 2011/2012

2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016 Роми

Total number 584 576 556 556 538

First grade 4 4 2 2 2 14

Second grade 4 4 4 1 2 15

Trhird grade 6 4 2 4 1 17

Forth grade 4 5 2 2 4 17

Fifth grade 3 4 5 2 2 16

Sixth grade 3 3 2 5 1 14

Seventh grade 2 2 2 1 5 12

Eight grade 3 3 2 2 / 10

Ninth grade 4 2 2 2 2 12

Allocation of student into classes in the school year 2015/2016

I-1 I-2 I-3 I-4 I-5

1 / 1 / /


1 / 1 / /


/ / 2 / /

58


/ / 1 / /

V-1 V-2 V-3 V-4 V-5

1 2 1 / /


1 / 1 / /


/ 1 / / /


1 3 1 / /


/ / / / /

In this school children are enrolled according to the reonization decision but there are

exceptions. In the school year 2015/2016 there are 4 children that do not belong to the reon. This

is possible only if there is a place and the given limit of 34 children per class is respected.

The allocation per classes is done according to the Law on primary education.

The average success rate in the school year 2015/2016 is 4,13, without the external

testing, and with the external testing it is 4.06, while the average rate of Roma children is not

separately counted.

Primary School “Vuk Karadzic”

In “Vuk Karadzic” there are a total number of 143 students in the academic year 2015/2016 out

of which 13 are Roma.

Number of children enrolled Roma Others Total

2011/2012 29 240 269

2012/2013 22 214 236

2013/2014 18 186 204

2014/2015 12 154 166

2015/2016 13 130 143

2016/2017 / / /

Ethnic composition in the primary school “Vuk Karadzic“ in the academic year 2015/2016

Macedonians 110, Roma 13 and Serbs 20.

59

Number of children in classes in the years 2011-2016:

Data

2011/2012

2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016 Roma

Others

Total

Total number of

students

269 236 204 166 143 94 924 1.018

First grade 22 15 16 13 11 10 67 77

Second grade 17 22 13 17 8 7 70 77

Third grade 36 17 21 17 16 11 96 107

Fourth grade 28 36 15 16 12 10 97 107

Fifth grade 30 28 33 15 14 11 109 120

Sixths 29 27 26 28 13 8 115 123

Seventh grade 34 28 26 22 21 8 123 131

Eight grade 33 30 29 15 24 10 121 131

Ninth grade 40 30 25 23 24 19 126 145

The enrollment in the school is based on the decision of reonization.

The allocation into classes in done based on their previus knowledge, emotional intelligence and

ethnicity.

The average grade (GPA) in the school year 2015/2016 in this school is 4.2, and the average

grade for the Roma students is 3,9.

Average grade in the municipality of Kumanovo:

SCHOOL AVERAGE GRADE AVERAGE GRADE OF ROMA CHILDREN

11 OCTOBER 4,08 WITHOUT ANSWER

VUK KARADZIC 4.2 3.9

KRSTE MISIRKOV 4.39 NO DATA

TOLI ZORDUMIS 4.13 NO DATA

HRISTIJAN KARPOSH 3.82 NO DATA

BRAKJA MILADINOVCI 4.35 NO DATA

KOCHO RACIN WITHOUT ANSWER WITHOUT ANSWER

Interviews conducted in the Municipality of Kumanovo

Interviews were conducted at the Primary School "11th October" with pedagogue and

defectologist class teacher, teacher of Romani language and culture as well as interviews with a

member of the Committee for minority relations in the municipality, NGO Daja and Roma

parents.

60

Pedagogue and defectologist

Have regular meetings with students who have difficulties in mastering the materials. Most often

the Roma children are called for conversation and most often the reason is a misconduct.

Class teacher

The average success grade of the class is 4.19 while the of the two Roma students is 4- two

students are excellent and two students are insufficiently devoted and the reason for the not that

good grades is their irregular coming to school and their background knowledge since they were

apsent from the country for long period while they were in the Western European countires.

"I work for 30 years here and before the obstacle was the language but now the NGOs work a lot

and that problem is surpasses. Now the parents are more educated and their children are more

willing and language is not a problem but the problem is irregular attendence and if that is

prevented we will have results. " Now children attend pre-school education and immediately can

be noted the difference of those children that come directly from the street. The additional

courses are regularly maintained and are legally obligaroty. If a need is detected while teaching

in regular classes it is usual for the teacher to remain with the students further 15 minutes and

explain the material. "

Teacher of Roma language and culture

"I think we need to work with Macedonian parents to accept the Roma children, because there

are barriers." During the Roma language and culture classes students reported that they feel

rejected and not accepted by others and I needed to spent few classes in order to explain them

that they are equal. Because I am Roma the children perceived me closer and many times they

tend to ask me to explain them some thigs on Romani language, there are children who are third

grade and they still cannot understand and write Macedonian language. Once they began to

study the Roma language and culture they improved their success in other subjects as well.

"Children need a lot of attention in order to gain confidence and having a positive example of

successful Roma, affects them positively." They are very open during the classes while on the

other subjects not, it is because of the difficulties with the Macedonian language.

Member of the Committee of Community Relations in the municipality

In Kumanovo Roma children study in various schools but mostly in “11 October”, “Hristijan

Todorovski Karposh” and “Braka Miladinovci”. According to the reonization these children do

not belong in those schools, all belong to the Primary School October 11, but the municipality

has its own decision in order the primary school “11 October” to not become only Roma school

it can only deploy classes of 10 Roma and 10 Macedonian students. But the number of Roma

population belonging to this school is higher but the school accept no more than Roma 10

children, although parents insist to enrol their children to this school because it is closer, but the

decision of the municipality for several years does not apply reonization as such, aiming the

school to not become mainly with Roma children, even though this school is closest to where

most of the Roma population in Kumanovo live. Therefore, with a special decision the Roma

children are allocated in several schools and there are children traveling 3.5 kilometres away

61

from where they live and parents should be responsible on a daily basis to bring the child to

school".

NGO Daja

“The directors say we are not going to make this school a “Gypsy school”, each year we have a

problem with this, while in the central schools there are only children of doctors and directors in

“11 October” they do not receive our children but they send them in “Brakja Miladinovci” and

“Krste Misirkov” which is one building but the two schools operate here in different shifts where

in both schools the teaching language is Macedonian.”

Interviewed parents

"Roma children always sit in the last bench; we know as parents that our children have the

knowledge, but there is a distinction in assessing Roma and Macedonian child. They always say

you need to work home with your child, but I cannot have the same knowledge and I cannot work

at home with my child, but she is a teacher and should learn them."

"Children need transportation because have many children traveling away from where we live

because they do not accept our children in " 11 October" even though they belong to this school.

"Now the program is very difficult."

"We want to have a mixed class but the problem is that we cannot send our children three

kilometres away from home without provided transportation."

In Kumanovo the municipality have adopted an internal decision that in the school which is near the

Roma neighborhood, the authorities of school will allocate students in other central schools in order

to have a mixed composition classes even though these children belong to this school according to

the reonization decision. This is a good example of how to prevent the segregation even though it

means to not respect the reonization decision.

However, this creates an additional burden on parents who are obliged to enroll their children in a

school that is up to 3 kilometers away from their residence without providing them with transport.

Unfortunately, we didn’t receive the average success rate of Roma children from every school in

this municipality but from the one that we received it can be noted that the gap between Roma and

non- Roma children in the success rate is smaller if we compare with other schools in different

municipalities analyzed before.

62

From the above-mentioned information received by the schools from targeted

municipalities we can easily conclude that the main segregation issues exist in the municipalities

of Bitola and Shtip.

In the following table there is a number of enrolled children in the Municipality of Shtip

that do not belong to the school according to the reonization decision.

1. In the following table are

given the answers

received by the schools

in the Municipality of

Shtip about the number

of children enrolled in

their school that do not

belong according to the

reonization decision.

Total number of children

that are enrolled in the

school but according to

the place of residence

and the municipality

reonization decision do

not belong at that

school?

School years 2. How many of the

children that are

enrolled but do not

belong to the school

according to the

reonization decision are

Roma?

School years

2014/

2015

2015/

2016

2016/

2017

2014/

2015

2015/

2016

2016/

2017

Primary school “Goce

Delchev”

17 26 29 9 15 16

Primary school “Dimitar

Vlahov”

26 57 40 3 5 6

Primary school “Tosho

Arsov”

9 7 22 5 (Roma children in total)

Primary school “Vancho

Prkje“

42 52 55 / / 1

Primary school “Slavejko

Arsov”

8 10 10 There are no Roma children

enrolled

In the following table are given the answers received by the schools in the Municipality of Bitola

about the number of children enrolled in their school but that do not belong according to the

reonization decision in that school:

63

1. Total number of children

that are enrolled in the

school but according to

the place of residence

and the municipality

reonization decision do

not belong at that

school?

School years 2. How many of the

children that are

enrolled but do not

belong to the school

according to the

reonization decision are

Roma?

School years

2014/

2015

2015/

2016

2016/

2017

2014/

2015

2015/

2016

2016/

2017

Primary school “Gjorgi

Sugarev”

There aren’t children

that are enrolled from

outside the catchment

area

In this school there aren’t

Roma children that are

enrolled from outside th

cathcment area (all Roma

children belong to this

school)

Primary school “St. Cyril

Methodius“

18 17 25 1 2 /

Primary school “St. Climent

Ohridski”

15 8 17 In the school are

enrolled only Roma

children that belong to

this school according to

the reonization

Primary school “Kole

Kaninski“

In the last three years

there is only 1 student

who is enrolled from

outside the catchment

area

In the school are

enroled only Roma



the reonization

Primary school „Todor

Angeleski“

17 16 11 2 1 /

Primary school „Dame

Gruev“

8 27 22 In the school are

enroled only Roma



the reonization

Primary school “Elpida

Karamandi“

32 33 24 2 1 /

Primary school “Goce

Delchev“

256 231 221 *The numbers are from

Albanian students because

this is the only school in the

municipality that have

lectures in Albanian

language

Primary school “Aleksandar

Turundziev”

There aren’t children

enrolled that do not belong

to this school according to

the reonization

Primary school “Krste

Misirkov”

No Roma children

enrolled in this school

No answers as in the

previous requests from

Primary schools “Stiv

Naumov” and “D-r. Trifun

64

Panovski“.

Conclusion If we analyse the answers received by the governmental institutions, schools and the answers

received from the interviews we can conclude that segregation in primary schools in the country

is due to informal forms of social pressures and practices of separating rather than resulting from

the laws. Segregation is systematically penetrated in many areas of society and especially evident

in education.

Segregation of an entire community can be accomplished by virtue of the laws, which is de jure

segregation. But under the influence of different developments in society, segregation can arise

and exist in reality, not as a result of statutory laws or rules, which is segregation de facto, which

actually occurs in the municipalities of Bitola and Shtip. In this case the public is not sufficiently

aware to the forms of segregation that prevents it to be stopped.

The situation on the ground shows that in terms of reduced natality rate in the country, schools

fight for more students and are fulfilling only the wishes of the parents in enrollment. This leads

to a situation in one classes to have 30 students, and to another only 14, one teacher can be

overloaded and others do not have enough classes to recivie a minimum salary. This and many

other issues in the educational system are leading to low quality education and even formation of

ethnically homogenous classes because of the stereotypes of some parents.

In the case of Bitola and Shtip the status of a "Roma or gypsy school" is the reason that

Macedonian parents enrol their children in some of the neighboring schools. There is a

continuing transfers of Macedonian children to other school which is a process that takes several

years, especially in the municipalities of Bitola and Shtip. While in Kumanovo is the opposite

situation, there is a special municipality decision to not respect the reonization in some schools in

order to not create pure Roma schools and classes. Even though this decision is a positive

example in order to fight segregation such a decision again creates an additional problem and

burden of parents without any support to send their children up to 3 km away from home.

In the municipalities in Skopje - Gazi Baba and Gjorce Petrov the situation is better when it

comes to respectacne of reonization and providing mixed classes, but the success of Roma

children in the schools is visibly lower from the other students.

Even reonization to take effect, the Primary Education Act allows parents to enroll their child

wherever they wants, if the class does not meet the maximum of 34 students. On the other hand,

if we analyze the answers received by the schools about the number of children enrolled in their

schools that do not belong to that catchment area we can see that this number is not so enormous.

Therefore, again is there is an issue in the planning of the catchment area decisions, we have

schools that are very close to each other and still the concentration of Roma children is just in

one school.

65

Measuring schools by quality of teachers is quite difficult due to the lack of appropriate criteria

and assessments. The only ranking list that we got is the evaluation of teachers by external

testing of students or ranking due to bigger or smaller deviation in the evaluation of the student

by the teachers and the gained grade of the student on the external testing. Although on this

ranking there were some teachers from schools that have large deviations in grades and are from

schools with mostly Roma children, however this kind of assessment leaves no space for

generalization and measuring the quality of schools or teachers.

The physical facilities of the schools are improved, there is no difference in the school conditions

in the school buildings where Roma children are studying.

66

Recommendations to the authorities (local, regional and

national level)

• In the enrolment process in first grade the schools and the municipalities should take into

account the number of Roma children and their equal allocation with children from other

ethnic backgrounds;

• The decision of reonization need to be respectively corrected and respected by all schools

equally and there is a need an additional activity to be taken by the local authorities in

order to eliminate the possibility a segregated schools and classes with only Roma

children to be formed;

• Strengthening the capacities and the quality of the schools where most of the Roma

children are enrolled in order to increase the trust about the school capacities in the

general public.

67

Bibliography

Analisys „Discrimination of Roma children in the education process: Breaking the wall of

segregation. Available at: “http://ihr.org.mk/pub/diskriminacijaromi.pdf

EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies up to 2020, COM(2011) 173 final.

Law on free access to public information, Official gazette no. 13/2006.

Law on Primary education, Official gazette no. 103/2008, 33/2010, 116/2010, 156/2010, 18/2011,

42/2011, 51/2011, 6/2012, 100/2012, 24/2013, 41/2014, 116/2014, 135/2014, 10/2015, 98/2015,

145/2015

Law on protection and protection against discrimination, Official gazette R.M no. 50/2010.

Ombudsman report. Information of the situation for enrollment of Roma in first grade and their

representation in classes together with children from other ethnic backgrounds 2014/15.

Available at: http://ombudsman.mk/upload/Posebni%20izvestai/2015/Informacija%20Romi-

Obrazovanie-2015.pdf.

Roma strategy 2014-2020, Ministry of labor and social policy, 2014.

Roma strategy 2014-2020, Ministry of labor and social policy, 2014.

State Statistical Office, Census 2002. Available at http://www.stat.gov.mk/




segregation of roma children in elementary schools in ... · stiv naumov 1 naum ohridski 3 dr....

Documents