On the first day of the Annual REYN-Ukraine members and partners, 2019 November 21, the REYN-Ukraine team initiated a press conference “Development of preschool education in Ukraine: how to provide quality for every child” with the participation of Sergiy Ponomaryov (Roma program, IRF, moderator), Szilvia Pallagy (ECD program, OSF), Eleonora Kulchar (REYN-Ukraine national coordinator, CF ‘Blahho’), Natalia Sophi (ISSA-Ukraine), Yulia Naida (ISSA-Ukraine), Mykola Burlutskyi (REYN-Ukraine regional coordinator in Kharkiv, NGO “Chachimo”), Halyna Yurchenko (REYN- Ukraine volunteer, NGO ‘Roma of Ukraine “TERNIPE”).
Roma children in Ukraine are not covered by pre-school education, which makes it difficult for them to study in school. This is evidenced by the results of a research of Roma children initial conditions and needs in the context of access to education, medical and social services from the position of parents and teachers conducted by the REYN-Ukraine network, that was presented by a volunteer of this network, project coordinator of NGO ‘Roma Of Ukraine “TERNIPE” Halyna Yurchenko.
Mostly Roma children stay at home under the care of mothers, grandmothers, and older children. According to the results of the research, the reason that Roma children are not covered by pre-school education is that parents are more focused on meeting basic needs – housing, clothing, food, due to difficult socio-economic situation, and children education and development is often left out attention. As a result, Roma children without adequate levels of pre-school education are less competitive among peers in the classroom, and teachers do not have approaches to work with diverse (socially, economically, culturally) children.
Regarding the level of education of Roma parents in the context of whether they can help their children do their homework, engage in their early development, the research found that only 49% of parents in Transcarpathia region have basic education, a small percentage have general secondary and vocational education, and 22 % of those surveyed have no education at all and are illiterate. In Lviv region, about two percent of parents are illiterate, and in Kharkiv region, 4.3 percent.
According to the study, in Lviv and Kharkiv regions Roma are fluent in Ukrainian, in Transcarpathia region – a minority of parents know the Ukrainian language, accordingly, their children, when coming to kindergartens or schools, don’t speak Ukrainian.
In terms of economic situation, a low percentage of parents are employed and have stable jobs, while the average number of children in Roma families is 3.2. 54.4% of children in Transcarpathia region sometimes go to bed hungry. Although the situation is not so critical in other areas, there are problems with the purchase of clothing, footwear and office supplies.
Also, 35% of Roma parents in Transcarpathia region stated that it was difficult for their children to study, in particular, problems arise when writing, reading, studying mathematics. This indicates a low level of preschool preparation. At the same time, teachers point out one of the main problems is the lack of discipline of Roma people, which indicates a low level of socialization and adaptation of Roma children to the educational process as a whole. 11% of Roma parents in Transcarpathia region stated that their children were bullied at school. Only 0.7% of Roma parents help their children with homework. Other parents do not help with homework because they do not own the material themselves, or believe that their child is coping.
In some families, children do not attend kindergarden/school at all, their parents stated that it was expensive for them to buy school supplies, families often moved or they did not see prospects and values in education (“older children studied, but nobody hire them in the end”).
REYN-Ukraine researchers also raised questions about the awareness of Roma families about health services. Thus, according to the research, 76% of the respondents signed a declaration with the primary doctor, and among those who did not sign it, only 16% indicated that they did not know that such a declaration should be made. 58% of the respondents did their measles vaccinations to their children, 50% said that their children get sick once every half year, 21% say they get sick once a month.
Eleonora Kulchar, REYN-Ukraine national Coordinator said that now Network brings together 318 individual participants (including educators, medical workers, social workers, officials, volunteers, activists), 11 organizations ( including charitable foundations, Roma and pro-Roma NGOs, schools, hospitals) working with Roma children and their parents. Today, the structure of the Network consists of the national coordinator, an administrative staff and two regional coordinators – in Kharkiv and Lviv regions. By 2022, the Network plans to expand its structure to 6 regional coordinators and involved experts. One of the main achievements of the Network, as Eleonora Kulchar reported, was practically the first research of Roma children needs in Ukraine, as well as the launch of a micro-grants competition, which resulted in unique approaches to work in Odessa, Cherkasy, Kherson, Lviv and Zaporizhzhya regions.
Mykola Burlutsky – regional coordinator of REYN-Ukraine in Kharkiv region, informed that the Network’s priorities for 2020-2021 according to the strategy will be: increasing team expertise and team-building, regular dynamics research, advocacy of Roma child’s interests, resource support of members (in. including professional development and support for the development and testing of new approaches), expansion of the network (including the system of regional coordinators).