Minister says no problem if schools teach Roma kids only

Budapest, January 26 (MTI) – The minister of human resources has said that it is not a problem if only Roma kids attend a particular school. But whatever the case, they should be afforded a proper level of education, he added.

In an interview to news website vs.hu published on Monday, Zoltan Balog said only a badly intentioned reading of the public education law passed at the end of last year could discern any legitimisation of school segregation.

A government decree currently in the making aims to ensure that someone cannot be kept at a disadvantage even behind the facade of a school run by a church or national minority. “On the contrary, it will be obligatory for them add something extra,” he said. It will be determined precisely what kind of extra teaching services must be provided as well as detailed regulations for guarantees in such cases, the minister added.

Referring to an all-Roma school in Nyiregyhaza, in the poor eastern region of Hungary, he said the school was an “absolute exceptional case” and regulations should not be based on its example.

The local council-run school was first forced to close in 2007 under pressure by the Foundation for Disadvantaged Children. It was reopened in 2011 after the council transferred it to the Greek Catholic church for free. A local appeals court ruled last November that the church-run school which exclusively caters to Roma pupils must abandon new uptakes from the next academic year.