Romani Children Continue to Face Discrimination in Hungarian Schools

20 November 2007

According to the Roma Press Centre (RPA), Hungarian parents in the southern Hungarian city Szeged protested the placement of Romani pupils in various schools in Szeged following the dismantling of the Mora Ferenc Elementary School, a local school which segregated Romani children. Its 140 pupils were consequently distributed amongst ten different Szeged schools.

According to the Roma Press Center, the addition of 22 new Romani pupils to the Alsovarosi Elementary School has sparked controversy among the school's community. Parents have launched a protest against the municipal government's "unfair" decision to reassign so many new Romani children to their school, threatening to send their children to another school.

The administration, however, remains satisfied with their re-distribution efforts, hoping to avoid segregation in other local schools. Though one-third of Mora's Roma pupils had requested to be placed at Alsovarosi, only 22 were admitted to avoid such problems. Education official Janos Kardos was quoted by the RPA as having stated that he felt it was "justified to set limits to the number of disadvantaged children at a particular school."

(Roma Press Centre)