Following the monitoring of the phenomenon of school segregation in over 500 school units in the North-East Region (Moldova), the Center for Advocacy and Human Rights - CADO and the Center for Resources for Public Participation - CeRe made a series of recommendations to improve the legislation that protects the right to education of all children in Romania, through an address sent to the Ministry of National Education and Scientific Research on May 24, 2016. Until now, the experts of the two organizations have not received any response from the institution.
The recommendations submitted by CADO and CeRe review the main legal obstacles in the desegregation effort, proposing concrete improvements, as follows:
I. Modification of the Order in 1540 on 19 July 2007, prohibiting school segregation of roma children, and the approval of the Methodology for the prevention and elimination of school segregation of roma children:
- Changing the Order of the 1540/2007 by the adoption of the methodology for the analysis of the inclusion of the / school segregation of roma developed and tested in the framework of the project;
- On the introduction of penalties for non-compliance with the provisions of the Order of the 1540/2007. At present, the piece of legislation that governs the obligations of the school to the the prevention of and the fight against school segregation of roma children do not contain any penalties (including administrative penalties) for failure to comply with the provisions of the law;
- The amendment to the definition of school segregation is regulated in Annex 1, Ch. 2, Art. 2 par. 2, so that the reporting of the riscruilor of school segregation to be made to the category corresponding to the cycles of the educational unit school district-school (but only after they have adopted a system for the collection of data disaggregated by ethnicity at the level of the school district);
II. The clarification of the legal framework for the Integrated it System of Education in south africa (SIIIR), and the collection of data disaggregated by ethnicity. Please note that the the methodology for the monitoring of the inclusion / school segregation of roma children developed and tested in the framework of the project "School for all the kids!!", he sought to align (to the extent possible) indicators, as well as its people, collected by the SIIIR;
III. Changing the Order of the MENCS, no. 3158/2016 approval of the Timetable and Methodology for the inclusion of children in a primary school for the academic year 2016-2017:
- The inclusion of a reference to the express, on the Order of the 1540/2007 on banning school segregation of roma children, and the approval of the Methodology for the prevention and elimination of school segregation of roma children;
- The introduction of a system of random (computerized) assignment of students to the formation of the beginning classes of the educational cycle (preparatory class and 5th grade), a system similar to the existing and functional one for the computerized assignment for admission to high school;
- The introduction of clear criteria for the establishment of school districts in such a way that it does not preserve it or to lead to the segregation of the school;
IV. The amendment to the Law no. 87/2006 relating to the provision of quality education through the completion of the methodology ARACIP for the assessment of the quality of the education indicators for the evaluation of school segregation on the grounds of ethnicity.
CADO coordinated the monitoring of the phenomenon of school segregation in the North-East Region in the 2015-2016 school year, within the "School for all children" project. According to the monitoring report, 81 school units from those monitored in Botoșani, Iași, Neamț, Suceava and Vaslui counties present at least one form of school segregation based on ethnic criteria. This number represents a percentage of 20% of the 394 schools that provided data in the monitoring.
In Romania, the national law prohibiting school segregation and that education is the recunoascută as one of the levers which could be contributing to the poverty of the next generation. However, the separation of children on the basis of ethnicity, and social status remain. The segregation calls for self-education is inadequate, and that it perpetuates poverty.