WRITTEN QUESTION E-3062/01

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(7 November 2001)

Subject: Enhancing the integration and future prospects of Roma children by adequate provision of education in their own language and culture

1. Is the Commission aware that providing children from new groups of immigrants, who speak Turkish or Arabic at home, with schooling in their own language and culture has helped them acquire a better command of the common language of the communities in which they live, thereby contributing to their integration?

2. Is the Commission taking account of the fact that the Roma people are spread over several countries and, unlike most other European peoples, do not have their own territory, which means that after the accession of new member states from Central Europe many more EU citizens than at present will have a first language that is not one of the official languages of administration and education?

3. Does the Commission consider that the fact that schools where all or most of the pupils are Roma children do not generally offer those children education in their own language and culture is one of the possible explanations for the lower educational achievements and limited chances on the labour market of this population group?

4. Is the Commission also aware that the failure of the authorities concerned to provide education in the Roma language and culture in villages and districts which are largely populated by Roma households, particularly in the Slovak Republic, has hitherto been justified on the grounds that Roma is a language which has no written form and no standard vocabulary or syntax and education can therefore only be provided in the majority language of the country concerned?

5. What does the Commission know about the efforts now being made by linguists and others involved to develop a standard spelling of the Roma language, as far as possible for the whole of Europe, to facilitate its use in literature, theatre and education?

6. Is the Commission prepared to encourage steps to integrate the Roma language into the school curriculum, as is being done in the Swedish city of Malmö, at least in areas where Roma make up more than 10 % of the population?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(20 December 2001)

The Commission has noted the information provided by the Honourable Member, particularly points 1-3, and would like to remind him that the responsibility for the organisation of education systems, including the content of teaching, lies exclusively with the Member States.

The Commission does not have any information on the subject referred to in point 3.

The question of teaching migrants' languages and language learning by minorities is one of the Commission's priority subjects within its education programmes and initiatives.

Under the Comenius action of the Socrates programme, the Commission is funding a number of projects on the subject of school failure and the children at risk, especially among marginalised groups such as the Roma and Sinti. This includes the development of teaching materials in the respective languages, as well as the use of information and communication technologies to encourage these groups to use their own languages.

Institutions that are involved in Roma and Sinti education are among the participants in projects funded by the Commission in the field of intercultural education and education for children of migrant workers and travellers.

The socio-linguistic situation in the Roma and Sinti communities is extremely complex. Their language has many different variants, which are sometimes mutually incomprehensible, and the situation is further complicated by contacts with the languages of the majority populations amongst which these communities live. Furthermore, the members of the communities are themselves often opposed to the development of a standard written form of their language and its use by outsiders. As a result, teaching the languages and cultures of the Roma and Sinti communities in schools is impeded by obstacles which are sometimes difficult to overcome.

The Commission is aware of various initiatives to standardise the Roma language, but is not aware of any standard form having been accepted by all of Europe's Rome and Sinti communities.

Under the Phare programme, the Commission has promoted projects on better integration of Roma children into the normal school environment and on improving Roma school attendance by encouraging teaching of Roma language and culture and by providing second-chance education for those who never finished their compulsory education. Such projects have been or are being implemented in a number of candidate countries, including Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia.