Segregation of Roma increases in Hungarian schools

Segregation of Roma pupils in Hungarian schools continues in practice despite an official ban and has even increased, Nepszava daily said on Thursday.

"Segregation has indeed been increasing," sociologist Janos Zolnay, one of the leaders of a recent survey, was quoted by the paper as saying.

Discrimination in Hungary is illegal and the previous government tried to stamp it out with a series of policies which are seen as having largely failed.

The number of schools where Roma children are in a majority has increased by an estimated 30 percent in the past six years, the paper said, citing the findings of a nationwide study conducted since 2004.

In Hungary 200,000 Roma children study today either in entirely segregated schools or in separate classes within a school, the paper said, quoting data by the Give Chance for Disadvantaged Children foundation.

The NGO pointed to sociologists' studies showing homogenously Roma schools operated in 170 towns and villages and another 700, where Roma pupils study in separate classes, the paper said.

According to studies the standard of education in these schools and classes is well below the national average which in practice paralyses the future prospects of these children, said the paper.

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