Kindergarten Workers Abuse Romani Boy in Bulgaria

29 July 2004

On April 29, 2004, Ms Rumyana Angelova, a Romani woman from the northeastern Bulgarian town of Shumen, testified to ERRC that several weeks earlier a worker at her son's kindergarten known as "Dida" physically and verbally abused her 6-year-old son David Marinov. According to Ms Angelova, for about one week, Dida made such racist statements to her son as "You are a nasty tribe" and "You are dirty and your mother is dirty, too." She also reportedly slapped David on the back on several occasions and violently pulled his ears. David's teacher, Ms Yordanova also reportedly ver-bally harassed David. Ms Angelova confronted Dida and Ms Yordanova about their behaviour and was told she should send David to another kindergarten if she didn't like the one he attended. Soon thereafter, David was moved to another kindergarten, which is attended by a larger number of Romani pupils. Ms Angelova also wrote a letter of complaint to the director of the kindergarten, but as of the end of April 2004, there had been no response. (ERRC)