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Hungary school discriminates against Gypsies

Hungary's Ombudsman has told a primary school it must stop discriminating against its Roma (Gypsy) pupils after finding that it separated them from other children and listed them all as having learning disabilities.

The school in Kerepes, about 10 km (6 miles) east of the capital Budapest, erected bars down a corridor to segregate Roma children and barred their access to the fire escape on the ground that they used it to truant from lessons, he said.

"Because there is no legal basis for the separation, this conduct qualifies as being banned by the constitution, negative discrimination and illegal separation," Ombudsman Jeno Kaltenbach said in a statement made available on Friday.

Discrimination against Hungary's half million Roma -- also known as Gypsies -- is widespread, and the European Union says Hungary is among the three worst offenders in the 25-nation bloc in terms of housing segregation.

The school used to list the names of Gypsy pupils separately, but Kaltenbach said he was taking no action on that because the school had stopped the practice.

But he found that the school had abused its powers by not letting certain pupils attend school celebrations, and violated pupils' rights by grouping all those with special learning needs and "disadvantaged" backgrounds in one class.

The pupils were also forced to have lunch in 10-minute breaks or by cutting short their classes, which he said violated their right to health and a proper education.

Hungary has one of the largest Roma populations in the EU. Brussels pressed the 10 mainly east and central European states that joined the bloc in 2004 to improve the rights and treatment of their Roma minorities, and now monitors their performance.

Posted by: SoulRiser
Source Article

Posted in: News on January 27, 2006 @ 12:00 AM

Tags: School

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