Redesigning Public Education: Targeting Children in Need and Reframing Institution Operation

1. Redesigning Public Education: Targeting Children in Need and ReframingInstitution Operation Agnes Kende Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Centre for Social Research, Child Programme Office

2. The structure of the Hungarian education system

3. Failure in education of Roma children Children in Hungary who • do not go to kindergarten, and • go to secondary schools that do not award a graduation diploma are more likely to be Roma

4. Roma children in kindergarten Todaytherate is higher - free mealfromtheage of 3 – no data

5. Roma children after the primary school

6. Social situation of Roma children nearly half of the Roma population is considered to live in extreme poverty their schooling is related to the problem of the education of the „disadvantaged” and „multiply disadvantaged” children. • *According to the Public Education Act disadvantaged children are those who, due to the bad social situation of their families, are entitled to regular child-protection allowance (in case the per capita income in the family does not exceed 135% of the prevailing lowest amount of old-age pension that in 2008 was about 113 EUR). A disadvantaged child is considered to be multiply disadvantaged if at least one of his/her parents highest education is the 8 year of general education.

7. But at the same time… the issue of the education of the Roma does not equal to the issue of education of poor children Roma pupils are exposed to prejudices and suffer from the consequences of the school teachers' stereotypical way of thinking

8. PISA Report Hungary’s system of education is the least successful in compensating for social background among all OECD countries

9. Segregation of Roma children - Data The number of segregated schools has increased constantly in the past three decades The proportion of Roma studentsamongentireschoolagechildrenaredoubledbutthehomogenousRomaclassesare8 times more thanin 1980’s. 1/3 of Roma studentsstudyinentirelysegregatedschools

10. Various manifestations of segregation of Roma children„between school” segregation

11. Various manifestations of segregation of Roma children„within school" segregation Separate Roma and non-Roma classes, groups and other hidden ways of separation within the same grade

12. Imaginary „Other” In the context of ever more experienced ethnic hatred and xenophobia in contemporary Hungary, structurally conditioned reciprocal suspicion and deep disaffection in schools carries distressful signals for the future, and calls for urgent actions if not for other reasons but for the maintenance of an essential minimum of social cohesion.

13. Integration policy affirmative action policy • Introduced in 2003 • Goal: reducing segregation of Roma and majority children between schools and within schools • Financial support for schools introduce integration in their schools • Guaranteed kindergarten slots for multiply disadvantaged children aged three or over • Provided kindergarten meals for free (which increased the number of young Roma children attending kindergarten) and extended the free meals up to the seventh grade of primary school • Multiply disadvantaged children receive financial support to cover the cost of enrolling in kindergarten (addition clothing, shoes etc. needed) • Mentoring program with financial grant for disadvantaged and multiply disadvantaged children in school • Each year 600 multiply disadvantaged children that enroll in secondary school get a dorm room and receive a scholarship. • The EU only subsidizes local infrastructural investments that are beneficial to desegregation and promote equal opportunities

14. National Programme To Combat Child PovertyThe National Strategy 2007-2032 “Making Things Better for our Children” The goal of the program over one generation is to • significantly reduce the poverty rate of children and their families to but a fraction of the current one; • put an end to the exclusion of children and the extreme forms of intense poverty; • transform the mechanisms and institutions which currently reproduce poverty and exclusion

15. „Give kids a chance”The Child Opportunity Program of Szécsény

16. The Experience of The Child Opportunity Program of Szécsény • Without structural changes at national level, it is hard to influence institutions at local level • Without the commitment of local decision-makers, it is hard to build child opportunity programs – that is not the priority and often against the local social will (fear of positive discrimination in favor of Roma children and their families)

17. The Experience of The Child Opportunity Program of Szécsény Instead of influencing mainstream services and elaborate integrated approach to a complex, inter-sectorial cooperation in favor of children The Program built alternative services to replace the missing and disfunctioning services

18. Educational Project in The Child Opportunity Program of Szécsény Try to emulate the ‘all-year and all-day school’ model, even if the regulatory environment does not make this entirely possible

19. Adapting HCZ in Hungary The experience we gained while implementing the educational services of the Szécsény Child Opportunity Program is applicable to the Hungarian HCZ project

20. Thank you for your attention