“Roma kids are really cute when they’re little, but when they get to be around twelve or thirteen, those same kids are going to be the ones waiting for me at the bus stop with knives to steal my sneakers.” (Mateja, 15, Vracar, Belgrade).
“It’s common knowledge that even little children in those slums are drug addicts. Laws don’t apply to them. They do whatever they want. They steal electricity from our power grid and we end up without streetlights. Someone comes to fix the lights, and then they do it again. I call the municipal services, and they just tell me that they can’t do anything. Everyone sits around waiting for the authorities to react, but the Gypsies don’t care. They just set fire to plastic and metal and anything they come across.” (Biljana, 45, Donji Dorcol, Belgrade).
The Roma population in Europe, which totals between ten and fifteen million people, suffers the most widespread prejudice, violence and structural discrimination. Extreme poverty, lack of education, high illiteracy levels and social exclusion render them the most vulnerable and marginalised socio-economic group in the Western Balkans, with an average life expectancy of around 50 years. They are socially invisible in every country in which they are an ethnic minority group until an incident occurs that cannot be ignored, shedding light on the injustice and discrimination that Roma face on a daily basis. Even Belgrade Mayor Aleksandar Sapic claims that they have chosen the way they live and refuse to integrate into “civilised life.”
The most recent event that drew attention to the institutional racism faced by Roma occurred in September at the beginning of the school year when a group of parents from the elementary school “Vuk Karadzic” in the Belgrade suburb of Ripanj protested that Roma children were over-represented in one of the two first grade classes. While some parents threatened to physically harm the school principal, others threatened to pull their children out of school if the problem was not resolved. After the principal contacted the Belgrade School Administration, the children were redistributed between classes so that both had an equal number of Roma children.
Underutilised Potential
Jovanovic confirms that systemic discrimination against the Roma will have serious economic consequences for society. “According to data from the World Bank and UNDP, 16% of young people in Serbia (ages 15 to 24) are neither enrolled in academic institutions or vocational schools or employed. Within the Roma population, this percentage rises to an alarming 62%. This disparity affects not only the Roma population on an individual level, but also the entire economy of the country. Estimates show that Serbia will lose 40% of its workforce in the next 25 years. Roma account for between 14% and 29% of the young population who will enter the labor force in the next decade, double or even triple that of the majority population. Ignoring these facts and perpetuating the cycle of discrimination against Roma will result in a direct economic loss for Serbia,” warns Jankovic.
EXCLUDED
“At the beginning of each school year hundreds of parents approach us with similar stories of injustice in their fight for their children’s rights, and this imposed decision simply confirms the institutions’ readiness to yield to racism,”says Stevica Nikolic from the Roma for Democracy Foundation.
Danijel Ramanovic, a Roma father of three who went public to defend his child’s right to equal education, stated that he is upset by the presence of racial discrimination at the school, but describes the relationship between the children as generally good. “I don’t want to condemn everyone because of the attitudes of five or ten children,” he explains. “My personal involvement in this incident has nothing to do with the school itself, the psychologist, the pedagogue or the principal. They are all great people who are committed to their jobs. This incident was initiated by only one group of parents.”
Zeljko Jovanovic, director of the Roma Foundation for Europe, explains that the incident in Ripanj is not an exception, but rather one of many examples of discrimination against the Roma people. “Discrimination happens every day – in schools, at places of employment, in healthcare institutions. Roma are faced with situations where their access to education, employment and basic social services is either limited or completely nonexistent. This practice is not the product of one government or one regime. Discrimination against Roma has been ongoing for decades and is part of a broader social problem.
The broader social problem stems from the fact that the Roma community is largely excluded from participating in national political decision-making.“The political exclusion of the Roma is the source of all of our problems and deepens the vicious circle of poverty and racism because the Roma are not in a position to adequately fight for their rights through institutional channels,” explains Nikolic. “Political exclusion means that our needs are not taken into account when creating policies. This is evident in practice, as laws and action plans that are meant to benefit our community are not actually implemented. They are plans which lack the fundamental understanding of the complexity of the marginalisation that we face. For example, virtually no hate crime against Roma has ever been prosecuted even though the number of both verbal and physical attacks would decrease if that were to happen. Without political will, action plans, however well-intentioned they may be, are purely symbolic.”
“Modern societies rest on two institutional pillars: education and healthcare. If these pillars collapse, the collapse of society will quickly follow,” explains Sonja Licht, President of the Foundation BFPE for a Responsible Society. “By depriving Roma children of their right to equal education, enormous long-term damage is being done both to the educational system and the basic values on which the very system is founded. Discrimination against Roma children does not affect only those children themselves, but all other students and teachers as well because it calls into question the entire process of socialisation. We should not be surprised at the increase of violence in schools because discrimination is violence. In the presence of discrimination, solidarity, empathy and friendship become nothing more than empty platitudes as Roma children are being pushed back into their slums. What normal person wants to have slum children in school, and do people understand that such policies damage all children, including their own?”
Immigrants Confronted With the Same Problem
That this issue is far more complex than simple racism can be seen from examples across Europe where schools tried to assimilate large numbers of immigrant students and failed. In Paris, parents who were not adherents of right wing or racist ideologies massively transferred their children out of those schools that accepted a large number of Arab students. Most did not make this decision because they were racist, but because teachers were forced to adapt lesson plans to accommodate more than half of the class who were functionally illiterate. A teacher in a German elementary school attended mostly by immigrants described a similar scenario and confirmed the difficulty of working with students who do not have textbooks, do not study at home and do not achieve the results that German children do. Many European countries that adopted a liberal assimilation policy in schools have since recognised that this policy does not work in practice because children come to school from radically different starting positions.
Misplaced Concerns
Parents and children from other schools in Belgrade confirm the fact that Roma children are seen as children from the slums by mainstream society. While some perceive the entire ethnic minority group as lazy and born thieves, others are concerned about the problems that may arise in schools that attempt to integrate a large number of Roma children with white majority children. “We didn’t have any serious problems in my elementary school,”Stari Grad” in Dorcol and we had a lot of Roma kids, but discrimination always existed. Some parents from the neighbourhood deliberately enrolled their children in another elementary school, “Skadarlija”, to avoid the problems that arise from the disparity between students of such different backgrounds in a small, common space. These parents didn’t have a problem with the Roma children because they were Roma; they wanted to avoid problems such as harassment, incidents and violence that often occur in such mixed schools,” recalls Lana (19).
“I would love for my children to go to school with Roma children and grow up without prejudice. Unfortunately, it’s a fact that schools with a considerable Roma student population are generally inferior. The teachers are less committed because they automatically assume that all Roma lack academic potential and that only very few are motivated to finish eighth grade,” admits Ivona, a lawyer from Belgrade. “This is obviously not the fault of the Roma children, but the fact remains that no one would choose to send their children to a low-performing school.”
“This is a very intolerant society, not only towards Roma, but towards anyone who differs in any way,” explains Elena (20). “People are prejudiced, and if you don’t fit the mold of the established majority, you face discrimination and rejection. In my elementary school, Vladislav Ribnikar, kids made fun of the boys whom they labeled as gay, insulted a kid who had a Chinese mother, while three boys changed schools because they didn’t match the conventional image and were completely ostracised. I can only imagine what it would have been like for a Roma kid in my school.”
Although there is noticeable intolerance towards everyone who is “different” in Serbia, the position of the Roma in society is by far the worst.
The law mandates that all schools and preschool institutions have special teams in place for protection against discrimination and violence, but the question remains whether these teams enforce policy or simply turn a blind eye to actual practice. “Education is a key factor, but not for improving the position of Roma in society as many believe, but, unfortunately, much more often for causing a lasting trauma that we carry with us from childhood,” says Stevica Nikolic of the Roma Foundation. “We often hear stories about how Roma children are excluded from social activities such as graduation parties and how they face discrimination from both their peers and the school staff. Now imagine what the future of these children holds when they are ostracised from early childhood because of their background and skin color. Does an innocent child deserve to be targeted, shamed and excluded while their peers have the right to dream big? Do our children have the same right to dream big, or should their dreams be reduced to simply ending the feelings of shame and fear as soon as possible?”
Ramanovic, the Roma father, confirms that many Roma parents don’t protest because of a fear of threats. “I myself have been threatened, but they can’t scare me, and I will find people like myself who are willing to stand up to discrimination because it has really gone too far. We Roma are accused of sleeping with our daughters, that our mothers are mistresses, that a girl’s first sexual relationship is with her father. These accusations are so disgusting that it makes me uncomfortable to repeat the words. My goal is to achieve legal accountability which would force people to hold their tongue and not speak with such blatant prejudice,” he says.
The bullying, threats, hate speech and exclusion that Roma children disproportionately experience in schools impacts their self-confidence and sense of belonging, so even though the percentage of children who enrol in school has increased, retention remains a big issue. “The rate of completion of elementary school is 99% in the general population while among Roma children it is only 64%, and even lower for children exposed to multiple counts of discrimination,” says Brankica Jankovic, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality.
“It is extremely painful to be subjected to violence in an institution that should protect children instead of endangering them,” confirms Sonja Licht. “I know examples of amazing men and women who, despite being targets of torturous discrimination both in school and within their own communities, managed to achieve great success. This is especially true for Roma women. Many of these people have since decided to dedicate themselves to the Roma community precisely because of everything they have endured. However, such a life requires tremendous strength, courage and persistence. Most children and their parents give up on this difficult path. The ultimate hypocrisy occurs when those guilty of discrimination and blatant acts of racism later go on to claim that the Roma population does not progress because they have no motivation to go to school.”
When School Becomes a Luxury
“I don’t go to school because my sneakers have holes in them. I don’t want the other kids to laugh at me.” (Janko, 9, Reva settlement, Krnjaca)
“I went for a while, but I didn’t finish. You see, I have now four children.” (Florinda, 23, Vuk Vrcevic settlement, Belgrade).
“In Serbia you have to fend for yourself because no one is going to help you. We know how to bathe, somehow we cope. Children go to school, or don’t go to school. Whatever, they manage. That’s how it is. By next summer we will definitely be thrown out from this place but everyone will manage somehow” (Denis, 50, Tosin Bunar settlement).
Despite the fact that the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia guarantees the right to education and its realisation without discrimination, in practice inequality has remained entrenched in the lives of Roma school children. “Honestly, I probably wouldn’t enrol my child in a school that has a large number of Roma students because these children often don’t make it past elementary school so the teachers automatically lower the standards and there isn’t any perspective for my child there,” explains Jelena, a doctor from Belgrade. “I think the Roma kids themselves feel inferior because their starting point is not the same as that of other children. The school curriculum assumes a certain level of literacy and better-off children enter first grade much better prepared for school. They also feel out of place because of this inequality. All of us parents spend a lot of money on private tutors, but the Roma children don’t have that possibility. There was a Roma girl in my daughter’s class whose mother was illiterate and after school the girl would go and beg for money in front of the local store. It is this mixing of socio-economic classes that simply doesn’t function just like it wouldn’t function if students who have failing grades in math enrolled in the Mathematics Highschool alongside those students who have straight As. The problem is not the color of their skin, but the huge educational gap that is evident from the first day of first grade.”
Extreme poverty, which overrules all other social differences among people, is the main barrier not only to education, but to all aspects of normal life. All ideas, feelings and ambitions disappear in the face of hunger, poverty and the stress of living on the margins of society. In Europe, Roma make up a significant portion of the population living in trash-strewn slums without clean water, electricity, toilets and sanitation services. According to the last census, more than 130,000 Roma live in Serbia with 70% in similar conditions of makeshift houses below all imaginable standards of living. Under conditions of absolute poverty that determine their lives, these children are not afforded the same privileges of early childhood investment such as quality food, healthcare, development and special classes, all of which immediately sets them apart from their peers at school.
“Poverty is often the common thread that characterises almost all groups who are at risk of discrimination and social exclusion, and this is certainly the case for the Roma, as we have seen both in daily practice and in numerous studies,” explains Jankovic. “People who live in extreme poverty are forced to deal primarily with existential problems, especially in informal settlements, and most of them have simply accepted their situation. Because of this, greater efforts need to be made at all levels and by all stakeholders in order to minimise inequalities.”
Roma students drop out of the educational system for various reasons, but the reasons all stem from poverty. When survival is the primary concern, attending school becomes an unnecessary luxury. Although an increasing number of Roma recognise that education improves employment opportunities and future quality of life, it is impossible to maintain a long-term perspective in overcrowded and unstructured conditions without electricity, adequate clothing, textbooks and school supplies. As writer George Orwell famously put it, “for when you are approaching poverty, you make one discovery which outweighs all of the others…the fact that it annihilates the future.”
Sociologist and researcher Sean Reardon and his colleagues at Stanford University concluded that “family income is now a better predictor of children’s success in school than race.” The researchers also found that levels of poverty are key determinants of the ability of students to succeed in school. The experiences of children living below the poverty line are radically different from those living in extreme poverty. These conclusions about socioeconomic status are confirmed by the fact that there are significant differences between Roma children living in slum-like settlements and Roma children in normal living conditions as economic stability allows for regular school attendance despite potential discrimination.
“I shared a desk with a Roma boy for three years in elementary school, and I have never met a better person in my life,” says Davor from Velika Plana municipality. “Now I am employed in a school in Milosevac where almost 30% of the students are Roma by background and I have mostly had positive experiences working with them. One year, a Roma girl was the best student of her generation.” He adds that in Velika Plana most residents belong to the working class and there are no informal settlements.
Closure of the GRUBB Centre
Over the years, the topic of Roma education has been addressed frequently, but the question that remains unanswered is why the GRUBB NGO receives no financial and political support when its programs and staff have contributed to so many concrete, positive changes in the lives, employment and education of young Roma-changes that every international and national institution claims to support.
In the Zemun municipality, Roma children mostly live in regular houses rather than settlements, and most attend school regularly. Many children used to attend an after-school program organised by the NGO GRUBB, which runs educational and artistic programs and whose goal is to assist Roma children with education and integration into society by providing help with homework, preparation for exams and the opportunity to participate in dance and rap workshops, all the benefits that more affluent children receive through private tutors and sports activities. Despite their successes with Roma children, GRUBB was forced to close their centre in July 2024 due to a decline in donor funding. The organisation has since relocated its workshops to one of the classrooms in “Sutjeska” elementary school.
“We had many success stories while we had our own centre,” says Silvia Sinani, who teaches dance workshops at GRUBB. ”Roma with university degrees were employed as teachers, and children came to after-school classes because our centre was within walking distance.” She explains that completing schoolwork was a requirement for participation in the artistic workshops. “We had mentors who assisted students with homework assignments and high school entrance exams, and people were also available to talk about any problems that the children or their parents were having. Many boys enrolled in technical or trade schools and I was especially happy to see a large number of girls realising the importance of education and going on to medical and law secondary schools. When we were forced to give up our centre, everything changed,” she says.
Prejudice Deeply Rooted in Society
“Poverty in the Roma population often serves as a basis for further discrimination,” says Nikolic. “Poverty is used by society as a justification for prejudice and the actions that follow. This social stigma against us because we are “different,” is not only economic, but deeply-rooted in the social fabric, making it even more difficult for us to fight for equality. Eliminating poverty would certainly improve access to education, but it would not solve the problem of racism, which should be addressed simultaneously. Racism will always exist, and will always exist in institutions, but the question is whether we will ever have the opportunity to respond.
Racism, teenage marriages, lack of education and trans-generational poverty have serious consequences for the future socialisation and integration of a population that represents a large national minority and a significant percentage of young working-age citizens. People who lack basic qualifications will not be in positions to secure wages sufficient for a normal life, which will, in turn, lead to a significant economic and social loss for the country. In a country with an ageing labor force and low birth rate, economic investments in the education and employment of the Roma population would impact the reduction of poverty and the growth of human capital. For all of these reasons, states should pay attention to the words of Gavri van Gulik, Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International, who warns that “instead of turning a blind eye to Roma segregation and discrimination in schools and communities, authorities in all countries with Roma communities must introduce systemic reforms to address what is effectively the root cause of these problems: ethnic prejudice.” Serbia is not an exception.