Icon: enlarge
Boy at school enrollment (symbol picture): "In schools, which should actually be a protected area for the children, discrimination is particularly frightening and bad."
Photo: Caroline Seidel / picture alliance / dpa
"Some of my school treat me like a thing," says Nele.
The nine-year-old who lives in southern Germany is actually called differently.
She is in the third grade of a primary school.
What does that mean?
“When I say 'good morning' I am not greeted back.
I only get birthday invitations once or twice a year.
And there are always insults or attempts to beat me up, ”says Nele.
Beatings, verbal attacks, exclusion: experiences that Nele's father Hannes had to make in the 1970s.
The family belongs to the Sinti national minority.
»Experiences of racism were and are unfortunately part of our everyday life«, says Hannes.
His aunt had already told him: "We have learned to live in the shade."
According to a new study, this is also evident in the educational participation of Sinti and Roma.
The RomnoKher Study 2021, for which more than 600 interviews with Sinti and Roma were conducted on behalf of the RomnoKher Society, shows that the minority in the German school and training system experiences »extreme disadvantage«.
Over 60 percent of those questioned report discrimination in school;
50 percent have even experienced violence.
25 percent of respondents said they had been discriminated against by teachers and in the classroom.
"Unfortunately, there are still not enough teachers who are sensitized to discrimination in schools," says Albert Scherr, sociologist at the Freiburg University of Education and one of the co-authors of the RomnoKher study.
The lack of participation in education by Sinti and Roma is a problem that must be addressed urgently by politics and the school system.
"These are dramatic numbers at the level of the late 1960s," says Scherr.
It was not until the 1970s that Roma and Sinti attended school in Germany at all - without, however, leading to an adequate proportion of higher school and educational qualifications.
It is unclear to what extent experiences of discrimination contributed to this and which factors also played a role.
In any case, the study states:
The educational situation of Sinti and Roma in schools has improved in recent years.
Nevertheless, almost 15 percent of the 18 to 25-year-old members of the minority still have
no school-leaving certificate
.
In the general population, the value is only around ten percent.
The differences become even clearer with the
Abitur
: That
only 17 percent of the Sinti and Roma surveyed are between 18 and 25 years old.
The comparative value for Germany, on the other hand, is over 50 percent.
The minority also experiences exclusion in the field of education: 40 percent of the 18 to 50-year-old Sinti and Roma have
no completed vocational training
.
"42 percent of those surveyed reported that they were hiding their identity as a member of a minority," says Daniel Strauss, chairman of the Baden-Württemberg State Association of German Sinti and Roma.
Antigypsyism is far too often perceived as normal in society.
"And in schools, which should actually be a protected space for the children, that's particularly frightening and bad."
Education researcher Scherr is therefore demanding a long-term funding strategy from politics in line with the requirements of the EU.
"We need clear signals that Sinti and Roma are supported by the state in education and participation." According to the study, this demand is supported by 80 percent of those questioned.
“I just want to be treated fairly,” says Nele, “without bullying and racism.” Because so far the third grader has learned one thing above all: “I can no longer clarify these things with the teacher.
She always just says I'm too sensitive or the bad guy. "
Icon: The mirror