New Programme for Equal Education Opportunities for Roma Children

11 July 2006

Milcin and Ambassador de Man sign the agrement on cooperation

Mrs. Frederique de Man, the Dutch Ambassador to Macedonia, and Vladimir Milcin, the Executive Director of Foundation Open Society Institute (FOSIM), signed an agreement for cooperation and implementation of �Equal Education Opportunities for Roma Children� project. Mabera Kamberi, Senior Advisor at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies and coordinator of Governments Programme under the Roma Inclusion Decade, was also present at the signing ceremony.

The Dutch Embassy has allocated a grant of 2 million EUR to FOSIM for implementation of the project, which aims to improve the overall academic success of Roma students in lower elementary school grades, and to increase the percentage of student that complete the elementary education in the schools included in this project.

�The Project will be implemented in ten elementary schools in Macedonia, between july 2006 and December 2009�, explains Vladimir Milcin. It will include 3,000 students, 250 teachers and 1,000 parents.

In addition to regular classes, the project will provide for tutorials for Roma students, help in writing home-work and learning. All children involved in the project will receive free school-books and amenities.

The teachers in the schools included in the project will be educated in the use of interactive teaching methods, as well as education based on social justice and other skills.

The project will include a number of NGOs that will organize workshops for parents and other out-of-school activities for the pupils, in cooperation with the schools.

Ambassador de Man said that the Netherlands invests a lot in education and believes that investments in human resources remain the most important investments, especially investments made in children education.

Education is one of the priorities supported by the Dutch Embassy. A total of 22 million EUR were invested in education in Macedonia, to improve school infrastructure, since 1997.