(measure) „4.1. Access to education and training of disadvantaged groups”, directed towards vulnerable minority groups (with focus on the Roma people), children with SEN and dropouts or likely to drop out. Suggested were a wide range of activities to facilitate the access to education and to increase the motivation for inclusion in the educational process for Roma children, to continue the process of desegregation, to introduce intercultural education, to work with Roma parents, etc.9 All this was developed in a special chapter of the programme „Areas of assistance with regard to Roma community”10 Indicators are foreseen to measure the effect of HRD OP on Roma integration11 - a fact of exceptional importance considering that these indicators will give regular information on the Programme implementation. To recapitulate, the educational part of HRD OP and chapter „Areas of assistance with regard to Roma community” provide the necessary prerequisites to link the absorption of European funds with the process of Roma educational integration. This cannot fill in the gaps in the National Programme for the Development of School Education, the more so – in the possible new Law on Public Education, however, it definitely gives a boost to the process of educational integration – by means of allocating financial resource and making commitments (the implementation HRD OP is part of Bulgaria’s commitments as a member state of EU). In 2011 in responce to the Communication of the European Council “EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies” Bulgaria also developed and approved its National Roma Integration Startegy. On 21.12.2011 the Strategy was adopted by the Council of Ministers as an ‘importer’, i.e. the Secretariat of NCCEII has taken on the responsibility to make the necessary corrections agreed on at the session of Ministers. On March 1st, 2012 it was approval by the National Assembly together with the Action plan for the implementation of the Strategy. The field of education is relatively well developed and as a whole is a step forward. It sets 40 activities for achieving 16 tasks within 7 objectives. They further continue the main trends from the Roma educational integration policy from the previous years enriching them with some new activities with respect to the new realities in Bulgarian educational system (delegated school budgets, preparing new Public Education Act, standard for intercultural education, etc.). It seems that the good cooperation between experts from Ministry of Education and Roma NGOs lead to well developed plan. At the same time there are some logical “gaps”. For example, for within Objective 1 “Guaranteeing the right to equal access to quality education, including by integrating Rom a children and students in ethnically m ixed kindergartens and schools” (i.e. de-segregation objective) four tasks are set. They relate to encouraging ethnically mixed education at pre-school and university level. The school level is missed that is a serious gap having in mind that the main efforts during the previous years have been for desegregation and ethnically mixed schooling at elementary and primary
R
!<)(+$,0*"$%&2+*6+$//(&=#/$"&'(4*#+3(4&>(?(%*)/(",+!06!SNT!>!SNV6! !F%.)!%2!%L'*)+!06!STM!Z!ST[6! SS !F%.)!%2!%L'*)+!06!STY!Z!ST[6! SN
26
ROM-UP! The inclusion of Roma through quality successful educational experiences