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Description
The project resulted from the considerable number of instances of violations of the right to education and non-discrimination of children and students from ethnic minorities. Despite the efforts for inclusive education, the students have lost their motivation for the education process. This is due to such factors as the lack of knowledge and skills of teachers for work in a multicultural environment, parental illiteracy and lack of will, instigation of intolerance by Bulgarian parents, lack of knowledge and respect for human rights by students, etc. The COVID-19 crisis further exacerbated the negative situation where a lot of students from ethnic minorities have not had the resources and opportunities for full-bodied inclusion in the education process. That is why the project goal is to support the right to education and non-discrimination of students from ethnic minorities in the districts of Sofia, Lovech and Razgrad by creating innovative educational tools and activities for empowerment and prevention of hate speech. To achieve the goal, we plan to use improvisational theatre as a means of efficient and safe communication where “mistakes” serve as educational resources. Training teachers will create a mechanism for partnership with parents and prevention of discrimination. The teaching sessions with the students will illustrate the essence of human rights and empower them to hold them. The project will benefit teachers from Roma and mixed schools from the three districts, the students from different ethnic background and their families.
Summary of project results
Through the project, an innovative concept for working with children and students from ethnic minorities from the Sofia, Lovech and Razgrad regions was developed, as well as a training toolkit for conducting activities in the field with the aim of empowering and preventing hate speech. The main methods we implemented are: training teachers and increasing their capacity to illustrate human rights and motivation to learn for Roma students; fieldwork to reflect on what has been learned. The project used improvisational theater as a training tool and a tool for self-knowledge, awareness and increasing motivation for development. The improvisational theater-based techniques learned by teachers will continue to support their work and communication with students in the future. The products created are available online and can also be made available to other interested parties.