REYN Kosovo

Roma Population

The  Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian  population  in  Kosovo  continues  to  live  in  a  vicious  circle  of  poverty  and  social exclusion,  reproduced  inter-generationally  over  the  last  decades.  High  unemployment  rates  among Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians  are  caused  by  the  lack  of  appropriate skills  and  low  education  attainment,  coupled  with  unfavorable  social  bias  towards  the three communities,  residential  and  educational  segregation,  as  well  as  general economic underdevelopment  of  the  country.  The economic perspective of the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities depends considerably on their equal participation in the education system.

Even if awareness  about  the  importance  of  education  is  solid,  the  low  literacy  level  amongst  parents  acts  unfavorably  on  the  early  development  outcomes  of  Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children. Therefore, community-based learning centres were established in Kosovo to support learning of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children. The centres provide homework assistance, mediation between school and families and also provide community-based pre-school services. Although the operation of the centres depends to a large extent on civil society organizations and donor support, they proved to play a crucial role in improving school performance of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children.

The overall number of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children in pre-school education is still very low. The official statistics report about a total of 36 Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children aged 0-6 enrolled in licensed public and private pre-school institutions. There are no credible data about children attending pre-school classes in community centres. On the other hand, participation of 5-6 year olds in pre-primary education offered by public schools is considerably better. 410 Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children were enrolled at this level in the school year 2017/18, whereas 846 were enrolled in grade 1 of primary education.

Main Goals

Supporting equitable access to education for children of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities by advocating for inclusion and improving the quality of provision.

Supporting the education community for social inclusion and qualitative education of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children by facilitating exchange of knowledge and advocacy through KRAEEYN.

Providing professional development opportunities to its members, facilitate the exchange of relevant experience and good practices amongst them, and raising awareness on the importance of inclusion at early age.

Advocating for inclusion and quality education of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children.

Activities Carried Out

– Professional development has been continuously organized for members: trainings on Step-by-Step methodology, Education for Social Justice and Ready for Schools. Workshops and debates were organized based on movies about life and education of Roma people in different countries.

– Network member meetings are continuously taking place to discuss professional development, share good practices and review possibilities for advocacy activities. Each meeting takes place in a different learning centre.

– Drafting a policy recommendation for pre-primary education with proposals to raise the quality.

– The offered Internship positions for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian students or graduates of an ECD University Program is a unique opportunity for the young students or graduates to learn, work and understand the KRAEEYN. 

Ongoing Activities

  • KRAEEYN is continuously organizing awareness raising activities aiming to address the issues of access, inclusion and welfare of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children.
  • Primary school students abandoning the school is a worrying issue that concerns the network. Therefore, many activities have been organized to address this problem to the relevant authorities. The network will continuously work towards bringing these students back to their schools, and will keep supporting them throughout these education, and thus prevent further abandonment of primary schools by students.

#DreamToGrow

The Dream to Grow campaign shares 12 multipurpose advocacy stories, highlighting  the successes of Roma ECD professionals who are supporting Roma children and families in their countries – celebrating the example they are setting for future generations.

Read Nefise‘s story in English and Albanian


REYN Early Childhood Research

REYN Early Childhood Research is a study that sheds light on young Roma children and their parents throughout Europe. The study brings together unprecedented Roma-related early childhood data from 11 countries. It catalyzes solid evidence for urgent and effective policies and programs enabling each young Roma to reach their full potential – to grow and thrive! 

Read research in English