MEDJIMURJE ROMANY SUE EDUCATION MINISTRY AND COUNTY FOR RACIAL SEGREGATION

ZAGREB, April 17 (Hina) - Parents of 57 Romany children will this week file a suit at the Cakovec Municipal Court against the Education Ministry, Medjimurje County and four local schools because of racial segregation, separating Romany children and placing them in "inferior classes". #L# The Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights (HHO) informed journalists on Wednesday that, together with the European Centre for the Rights of the Romany and the Ombudsman's Office it had conducted a study in Medjimurje primary schools and discovered that around 60 percent of Romany children regularly attended segregated classes. The director of the European Centre for the Rights of the Romany, Jean Garland, warned that the consequences of segregation were the stigmatisation and suffering of Romany children due to a serious educational, psychological and emotional syndrome. Romany children are exposed to a much more backward educational programme compared to other children, which leads to difficulties in employment because of their low level of education, and eventually to poverty, difficult living conditions and problems in being full members of society, Garland said. She added that as a result of constant segregation, Romany children lost confidence in themselves and felt humiliated and inferior. She presented data indicating that in primary schools in Orehovica, Macinec, Kursanec and Podturen in Medjimurje, around 73 percent of Romany children enrolled in first grade, while only about 17 percent were in seventh grade and only eight percent in eighth grade. Deputy Ombudsman Marta Vidakovic-Mukic said that her Office supported the lawsuit. "I believe that the suit will send a message to everyone that there isn't any justification for the current practice in Medjimurje schools," she said, adding that the Medjimurje Romany population was indigenous and spoke Croatian. (hina) sp sb