Over 18% of adult roma population illiterate in Bulgaria

The results of surveys conducted by different agencies show that 18.1 per cent of the adult Roma are illiterate, 24.2 per cent have uncompleted primary school education, 41.4 per cent have completed primary school education, 2.7 per cent have uncompleted secondary school education, 12.2 per cent completed secondary school education and 0.7 per cent are university graduates.

The figures were presented Monday at a discussion on "Roma in Bulgaria: the New Challenges" at the BTA National Press Club by Maria Simeonova PhD and head of a team that prepared an analytical report on the topic commissioned by the Sofia Regional Bureau of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation which also organized the discussion.

According to the report, there is a serious educational imbalance in Bulgaria between the different ethnic groups. There are specific educational problems in all ethnic groups but the situation is most dramatic in the case of the Roma.

A survey on the "Demographic Development of the Republic of Bulgaria" conducted by a team of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in 2005 showed that university graduates in the Bulgarian ethnic group are 16 per cent, in the Turkish community around 2 per cent and in the Roma community almost 0 per cent (0.2).

Those with four completed grades, i.e. almost illiterate, in the 15-19 age group are 9 per cent among Bulgarians, 24 per cent among the Bulgarian Turks and 64 per cent among the Roma.

A considerable part of the Roma children do not start going to school at all. The share of those who drop out of school is also considerable.

According to experts, the actual integration of the Roma requires the solving of several problems, apart from the education of Roma youths and children. It is necessary to improve the living conditions of the Roma, to provide employment and reduce poverty among the Roma. It is also necessary to train representatives of the Roma to help their ethnic group integrate adequately into Bulgarian society.

BTA