Council of Europe to review discrimination in schools

In the three years since the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that a Czech policy of placing Roma children into special education schools violated human rights law, no changes have been made, prompting the resignation of two ministry officials in recent weeks. Now, just days before a Council of Europe review, the ministry has announced a new initiative to address the discrimination in schools.

Education Minister Josef Dobeš announced Nov. 10 the ministry would work to address a list of findings from a 2007 ECHR ruling that said a Czech practice of systematically diagnosing Roma children with "mild mental disability" and placing them in classes and institutions with substandard curriculum violated the European Convention on Human Rights.

The ministry's announcement came on the heels of the resignation of two officials from the ministry citing a lack of commitment to addressing discrimination, and a complaint filed by the Budapest-based European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) in mid-November that asked the Czech case, as well as two similar cases in Croatia and Greece, be reviewed by the council. That review will take place Nov. 30.

Earlier this month, the Council of Europe asked the ministry to submit evidence of programs created to address Roma integration, which at the time Dobeš said was not immediately possible. Shortly after, he said a report including prospective costs for initiatives to address the problem will be available by the end of November, and said the ministry would follow that up with legislative proposals and the redrafting of a national action plan for inclusive education.

"I realize the importance of these regulations is precisely because students should have equal access to education in our schools, and I fully agree with them," Dobeš said in a statement.

According to statistics from the ERRC, there are around 5,000 Czech Roma children in special education who have no disabilities at all, making up 90 percent of the population in schools for children with mild mental disabilities. In 2007, the ERRC found Roma children were 27 times more likely to be placed in special education schools than non-Roma children, numbers that held true in much of the country in a government review last year.

"It's a problem that begins at a very young age but affects people for the rest of their lives," said Rob Kushen, executive director of the ERRC. "If you segregate them, they don't become productive workers or pay taxes."

The long history of government inaction is generating pessimistic feedback in reaction to the ministry's recent pledges.

"I can see now the fatal impairments of the team that should work on the agenda," said Klára Laurenčíková, who worked as deputy education minister in the two previous governments and then as an adviser before resigning last month.

Laurenčíková and Viktor Hartoš were both officials in the Education Ministry responsible for inclusive education, and both announced their resignations in October in protest of government inaction.

They told The Prague Post that the shuffling of ministers through the ministry (three ministers in three years), paired with budget and staff cuts (Hartoš said there was a 50 percent cut in special education workers) and a lack of dedication to the issue have negated whatever developments took place in previous governments.

"I don't find a genuine desire in the ministry's approach to solving a serious ethical problem," Hartoš said.

The original case heard at the ECHR, titled "D.H. and Others v. the Czech Republic," was brought to court in November 2000 by 18 Roma students from the Ostrava region who said they had been placed in special education programs for students with mental disabilities.

Following the case, in addition to drafting an action plan lacking provisions for funding or monitoring, previous governments proposed amendments to directives about the inclusion of Roma children in public education, and in March of this year, the Czech School Inspection Authority announced it would fine 34 schools that had enrolled Roma children. However, none of the fines were enforced.

When Prime Minister Petr Nečas' government took power this year, promised desegregation measures were not included as a priority in the government program, and the Education Ministry scrapped the entire national action plan.

Under international law, there is no way to enforce the ECHR decision, according to Tom Gerety, a law professor at New York University with a specialty in human rights law. But he added that concern for a country's image abroad can be a motivating factor. 

"The symbolic importance of saying, 'This must be done in order for your nation to uphold European standards of human rights,' is incalculable," he said.

Cat Contiguglia can be reached at
ccontiguglia@praguepost.com