How then should a Czech teacher handle a Romani child in the classroom? First of all, the teacher must pay specific attention to how the child is accepted by the other students. Children generally don't pay too much attention to racial differences - unless they have learned prejudices and stereotypes at home. For a child who looks different from the majority of his or her fellow students, going to school can be traumatic. Rather than emphasizing differences, the teacher must strive to show the children why it is good that we are not all the same. Such training can help prevent interethnic conflicts in the schoolyard.

It is best to start early. It's easy to explain to first-grade children that the Roma came to our country a long time ago from faraway India, that we can learn many things from them, such as how to sing a song in the Romani language. The teacher can emphasize that we are very lucky to have children of different races, religions, or backgrounds in the classroom because it enriches all of us, and because we can all learn from each other. Such sensitive training at the elementary school level, when the teacher is seen as an unquestionable authority in the classroom, can act as an effective medicine against the xenophobic psychosis of Czech society. Furthermore, it is crucial to strengthen the confidence of a Romani child right from the beginning of their school life.

Background

Romani children come from a completely different social and cultural environment than their fellow students from the majority Czech culture. Romani children generally have a very liberal upbringing, they are granted more freedom, and they are rarely punished. "Maribnaha na kereha èhavoreha òiè, èa laveha" (You don't bring children up by beating them but rather by using words), counsels one Romani saying. "Romani children learn by what they see others doing. No one breaks them in; they learn more or less on their own. No one forces them to learn anything which hasn't been granted to them by God..." according to one Rom quoted in a book by Milena Hübschmannová.

Collective decision-making and collective responsibility are much more important in Romani families than individual responsibility and individual ambition. Another Romani saying highlights these priorities: "Miro than odoj, kaj mire nipi" (My place is where my people are). Romani families are quite different from European families. Romani parents tend to differentiate among their children and prefer one of them over the others. Nevertheless, these "preferred" children appear to be outwardly accepted by their peers.

The teacher should know about Romani customs. For instance, breakfast is not a custom in Romani families. This has its roots in the fact that in the past, Romani women used to travel around the countryside, helping the villagers in exchange for food. It was only after the women brought the food back to the household that the children and the rest of the family could eat. Another Romani custom is to leave a little of their meal on the plate since it is not considered polite for a guest to eat everything that is given to them.

Teachers should also have at least a minimal knowledge of the Romani language, which can be used not only as a teaching aid but also as a means for the instructor to establish a direct emotional relationship with the Romani child. Furthermore, a teacher with at least an elementary knowledge of the Romani language is able to recognize when a student is making an error in Czech, something Romani students are more prone to do since they are not taught in their maternal tongue. Even children who have lost the ability to speak Romani make such errors — the result of the communist regime's assimilation projects during which parents were forced to speak to their children in Czech. As a result of such policies, many Romani children have trouble in both languages and speak a sort of Romani-Czech dialect.

Schools

The extent to which Romani children are successfully educated in school depends on the school's relations with their parents. Many Roma view schools as repressive organs that should not be trusted. These barriers can be overcome, but this requires time, patience, and effort to understand customs and habits that are foreign to the Czech majority.

Aside from learning the Romani language and visiting the parents of Romani students, teachers should also hold informal parent-teacher meetings at the school. Combining such meetings with a musical or theatrical performance by the children would guarantee parental attendance. The Pøemysl Pitter elementary school in Ostrava, which is renowned in the country for its Romani education program, bases all of its activities on cooperation with the Romani community. As one teacher at the school notes: "We are very respectful when we deal with the parents. Sometimes you have to listen to their experiences, offer advice in some areas. It's never a waste of time because it helps us open doors into a very self-enclosed community."

One hopeful sign is that the state has finally succumbed to pressure and allowed schools to employ Romani teaching assistants under certain circumstances. It is now up to the schools to take the initiative. We now have an opportunity to open up a new era in the education of Romani children, an era which will hopefully ensure that those children stay where they have always belonged - in school.

Copyright © 1997 by The New Presence magazine.
Originally printed in December 1997 and reproduced by the Patrin Web Journal with permission.