Another factor inhibiting school attendance is poverty. Books, pencils and paper are all expensive. What little money there is has to go on the most basic necessities for the family. The importance of books, training clothes and all the other expenses that schooling involves is not immediately obvious to hard-pressed parents. Poverty dictates that non-attendance at school, rather than the burden of these extra expenses, is the chosen option.
Parents are often uneasy, or in disagreement with topics taught on the school curricula.
Problems may also arise over issues like sport and swimming for girls in co-educated groups, or sex education. Unwilling or afraid to discuss these matters with the teacher, most Roma children fall into non-attendance as a result. For the most part, teachers fail to understand the reasons for low school attendance among Roma children. The children are constantly pressured for explanations. Forced to explain the disputes with their parents to the school, the children find themselves caught between, and embroiled in, the conflict between home and school.