Workshops with Roma children and parents– Trial Phase B

Workshops for Roma children and parents were held at the elementary school „Duško Radović“ in Novi Sad. This school is the closest to Veliki Rit, the largest Roma settlement in Vojvodina, so it has a large number of Roma students (100 children in the first year this school year).

Preparatory activities for workshops with Roma children and parents began in August.

During September and October, 10 workshops were held with children on the topics: Friendship, the importance of physical activity, the beginning of the school year, numbers, letters (Cyrillic and Latin) communities, and various topics related to the material (autumn, song, house / my home, my pet). The number of students who participated (adhering to the security measures prescribed by the state) is: 142 children.

Conclusions from the workshops with children:

• The children actively participated in the workshops: drawing, singing, reading, writing and counting, describing animals and actively participating in the conversation in Serbian (which is difficult for some of the children), participated in dramatizations and had a good time.
• In addition, they learned new concepts and words through the game.

6 workshops with parents were held. Topics were: “Educated women – stronger women”, “Starting school in a new way”, “Get a job and then a family” and the like (should I write all the topics). Number of Roma Parents who participated: 86 parents.

Conclusion from workshops with parents:

• Several parents do not know enough Serbian, so we took care to translate and additionally explain things to them.
• There was a lively discussion on how the talent of some girls could be cashed in so that they would no longer be financially dependent on their families.

Most welcomed the statement of a young woman who said that she would like “this craft and job” and that she was already tired of being hired only to maintain hygiene as a cleaning lady. This again touched on the topic of the necessity of education and persistence in it. They pointed out that it is a great pity and mistake of girls to leave or finish only primary school, get married young and depend on others all their lives. That way, they can’t help themself or their children. They are aware that education gives them the opportunity to decide about their future. They respect the tradition, but they believe that the time has passed when they were without the right to vote.

The impression is that parents are willing to help their children from the beginning of the school year and provide them with and enable all kinds of help. They point out that they are afraid of “distance learning” because although they have some of the technical means, electricity and the network are insecure in Veliki rit. They are aware of the importance of attending classes regularly.