Published: 2015-09-30

Analysis of socio-cultural conditions influencing situation of a Roma student in Polish educational system

Małgorzata Kozioł

Abstract

In Roma’s hierarchy of values, education is not placed high. Therefore, Roma people constitute ethnic group which is characterized by the lowest level of education when compared to other ethnic groups in Poland. Among the members of the group, there can be found large number of people who are illiterate, there are also many Roma people with only basic reading and writing skills. Despite the fact that education awareness of Roma is increasing among the younger generations, elderly people approach this issue from a distance and with a certain amount of reluctance. Because of low rate of Rome’s participation in education, Roma people are often described by those , who do not know their culture, as being innately lazy and of low intelligenceThese traits are largely stereotyped and in many cases do not reflect the real state of matters. However, it is significant that despite being perceived in an unjust and wrong way, the Roma people act passively and do not make attempts to try change the stereotype. The same is true as regards creating their own cultural or educational institutions, although Roma communities have full rights to do so. Roma people , who have Polish citizenship, are obliged to comply with the law in force, including active participation in the educational process. However, not all comply fully with the compulsory education, which is proven by the statistics on the number of Roma graduates. So what is the reason for the reluctance of Roma to education and the difficulties which Roma students encounter in Polish schools ? I attempt to answer this and other questions in this article, the aim of which is to present so called barriers. The barriers are caused by the specificity of Roma culture and get in the way of those who would like to achieve educational success.

Keywords:

Roma people, multiculturalism, Roma people and education, educational barriers, cultural barriers, exclusion

Download files

Citation rules

Kozioł, M. (2015). Analysis of socio-cultural conditions influencing situation of a Roma student in Polish educational system. Academic Journal of Sociology, 12(3). Retrieved from https://czasopisma.uksw.edu.pl/index.php/ucs/article/view/3035

Cited by / Share

This website uses cookies for proper operation, in order to use the portal fully you must accept cookies.