In relation to the opinion of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, issued upon Praxis complaint filed against the Nis City Administration, Department of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, and against the Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” from Nis for segregation and discrimination of Roma children, Praxis addressed the Commissioner with a request for delivery of information about whether and to what extent the stated Department proceeded in accordance with the recommendation contained in the Commissioner’s opinion within the given deadline.

Representatives of the Department of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport informed the Commissioner for Protection of Equality about the undertaken activities aimed at formulating and realizing the plan of measures whose implementation should overcome or at least reduce the circumstances stated in the complaint. The problem lies in the fact that, in the last twenty years, 90% of pupils enrolled in the Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” in Nis have been children of Roma national minority, while on two to three children per generation have belonged to non-Roma population. The stated situation comes as a result of a circumstance that the school is located near a large Roma settlement, but also of the fact that responsible authorities have not taken any active measures in the previous years to change such state of affairs.

In addition to the statement that proceeding upon the recommendation is a process, the information received from the stated Department also pointed to the conclusions adopted at the meeting of the representatives of relevant organizations and bodies, organized with the aim of coordinating future activities for removal of the problem of segregation in this school. It was concluded that material conditions for work should be improved, that it was necessary to permanently work on improvement of the quality of activities the school offers, to undertake activities aimed at media coverage of school work, but also to interest parents and children of all nationalities through a marketing approach. It was pointed out that the NGO “Ponos” had accepted to conduct a poll in the upcoming period in order to define the causes of the problem and to give basis for further work on its elimination. The Department of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport ordered the participants at the meeting to deliver their suggestions in writing that would be used for shaping further activities related to drafting a comprehensive plan of measures for overcoming the stated problem.

What is noticeable is that the proposal of the actual measures or the proceeding that would efficiently reduce the existing differences between the pupils of the Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” in Nis is still missing. By engaging all available mechanisms of the society, the response to each form of discrimination or any other negative social influence should be pragmatic and consistent, without investing time in formulating solutions that are hardly applicable in practice.

See the announcement: Commissioner for Protection of Equality Has Not Established Discrimination Irrespective of Segregation in Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” in Nis