Practice, Policy and Change in the School Education of Roma in Cyprus

Abstract Roma and Travelers are one of the largest ethnic minority groups in the European Union and have been subjected to racism for centuries. In Cyprus, a country with a very small Roma population, Roma issues -due to historical and political reasons- and particularly issues relating to the education of Roma have not been adequately addressed in the policy agenda and have not been researched sufficiently. Lacking knowledge on how to access social services funds, medical treatment provisions, education, and work, Roma are largely ignored, avoided, and kept on the margins of the local society; they are victims of prejudice and suffer from low educational achievement. Although school enrollment, attendance, and completion among Roma in Cyprus have increased at all school levels since 2010, the rate of early school-leaving among Roma in Cyprus remains high and only a few Roma attend secondary education, while even fewer complete compulsory lower secondary education at the age of 15. In addition, attendance and completion of upper secondary education among Roma of Cyprus remains extremely low, whereas university education has not yet been achieved by any Roma in Cyprus. As in other parts of Europe, Roma social and financial conditions appear to be directly linked to Roma children’s school attendance and the discouragement of Roma children viewing school as a priority. Although education in Cyprus is a key policy area with the highest number of interventions and evaluations since 2010, the number of measures does not necessarily reflect the ambition or the effectiveness of efforts. Cyprus, therefore, needs to incorporate Roma inclusion in accountable ways in its mainstream actions and measures in order to compensate for the disadvantages faced by Roma and to promote equality by combining its mainstream measures with specific Roma-targeted measures. Such measures should not adopt a one-size-fits-all approach, but should recognize that among the major factors contributing to Roma children’s school disengagement is the distance and inconsistency between the Roma family and the local community environment on the one hand, and the school environment and its workings on the other. The policy of Roma integration thus needs to shift to a policy of inclusion by addressing exclusion and the major issues of antigypsyism, discrimination, and racism. In being accountable, these policies need to set benchmarks to be reached, reported, monitored, and evaluated by a single local agency or institution to be able to coordinate the actions of various ministries. The success of such an agency or institution will largely depend on the establishment of a system of consultation with Roma, who are currently absent from relevant decision-making actions and synergies.