Description
The Romanian commune of Petelea has population of 2,937 inhabitants, of which 1,398 are Roma. Children and young people are at risk due to poverty, lack of education and lack of parental interest in school. The objective of the project is to increase the participation of Roma children in school through the creation of an Educational Center. The project aims at improving school performance among school-aged children, improving conditions for equal access to education, increasing awareness on the importance of education among parents and improving access to the labour market. The project will address these challenges through activities hosted by the Educational Center: support in solving homework, tutoring, counselling, speech therapy, self-awareness techniques, active recreation, environmental education. 75 schoolchildren, 84 young people and 120 parents will benefit from the activities hosted by the Educational Center.
Summary of project results
The project “Educational Center Petelea” was necessary for increasing school attendance, offering help in doing the homework for the less fortunate pupils who do not benefit from their family support, diminishing school abandonment and the social inequalities, as well as the discrimination issues through the various activities pupils were involved in having a direct access to education. The number of Rroma beneficiaries dropping out school diminished to a 62%, second of all it could be easily noticed both pupils’ and parents’ interest in the importance of education, the parents sent their children to school knowing that there they would be supervised by qualified teachers who not only help them in doing their homework but they also involve them in different interactive and pleasant activities organized within the project. The project contributed to reducing school abandonment, the pupils had the chance to practice and better their speaking by enriching their vocabulary after learning new words and expressions (around 34% out of the whole participants). They were also encouraged to use the Romanian language more when communicating among themselves rather than the Rroma language. They also improved their Mathematics, they learnt to work in teams, especially within the Model Airplane workshops, and they had access in using all the modern devices the classrooms are equipped with, such as computers, video projectors, TV sets and other materials used in their studies.
Summary of bilateral results