Divide and teach: educational inequality and the Roma

Abstract

This paper will discuss the decision of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in DH and Others v Czech Republic 1 which found that the practice of sending Roma pupils to special schools in order to provide remedial education undermined the human rights to education and non-discrimination contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights. The case highlights the degree of exclusion that Roma children face in the Czech Republic, yet this entrenched inequality is not unique to the region or to the context of education. The decision also clarifies the interpretation of indirect discrimination under Article 14 of the Convention. The EU Equal Treatment Directive 2 has paved the way for an enlightened approach to the question of indirect discrimination and in particular shifts the burden of proof to the respondent once a prime facie case is established. The Grand Chamber"s decision supports this approach and endorses the use of verifiable statistics in order to demonstrate prime facie discrimination. It also enables a broader enquiry into the societal context behind the facts.

Formal education vs. informal education in the Roma community—a silent confrontation where nobody wins

“…In schools, the Roma are the most vulnerable group, experiencing discrimination and racism (EU Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia, 2006). The Roma children are often, in several European countries, victims of indirect discrimination, which takes the form of segregated education, ending up learning in special schools or separate classes (O'Nions, 2010;Cviklova, 2015). When segregation occurs, the quality of the educational act is less qualitative, the school having weaker facilities, financial and human resources, compared to ethnically mixed schools (Merhaut et al, 2022).…”

Locations of racism in education: a speech act analysis of a policy chain

“…How discriminating tendencies affect the education of children from minority groups has also been addressed from a human rights perspective, such as the educational situation of Roma children in Europe. Several authors point to the shortcomings of policy resulting in the segregation of Roma children from mainstream education and discuss policy developments that seek to counteract the discrimination of Roma children in education (Murray 2012;O'Nions 2010;Roth and Moisa 2011). In human rights oriented research, education policy has accordingly been seen as hindering or facilitating the promotion of equal value.…”