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Visit from RODA Capacity Building Specialist Sertaç Işık to Mr. Bendevi Palandöken, President of the Confederation of Turkish Tradesmen and Craftsmen (TESK)- Visit to Deputy Minister of Environment and Urbanization Ms. Fatma Varank by RODA Capacity Building Specialist Sertaç Işık and Deputy Mr. Cemal Bekle
- RODA Capacity Building Expert Sertaç Işık Met with Roma Member of Parliaments
- RODA Members Visited Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality
- Visit from RODA to Çiğdem Cengiz, General Coordinator of Recycling Waste Cooperative
- Visit from RODA to Mr. Adem Ceylan, Head of Vocational Qualifications Authority (MYK)
- RODA Ankara contacts started
- Access of Roma Children to Education During the Pandemic Period
- Roma Children
- NOMA CHILDREN'S ACCESS TO EDUCATION DECLINED BY 2 PERCENT IN THE PANDEMIC: "CHILDREN HAVE STOPPED DREAMS"
- Elmas Arus was the guest of Kültürhane.
- Roma Dialogue Network Members are in Mersin
- “The Half” Documentary was Screened in Kültürhane Mersin.
- As the Romani Dialogue Network, our meetings with our members in Adana continue.
- Roma Dialogue Network Team is in Adana
- "The Half" Screening Will Be Held in Kültürhane Mersin
- We Visited RODA Executive Board Member Erdoğan Şener
- Roman Dialogue Network Members Met with Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Social Aids Branch Manager Ulaş Aydın
- RODA Members Met with Balıkesir Gömeç Mayor Mehmet İrem Himam
- Roma Dialogue Network Members Met with Dr. Cemil Tugay, Mayor of Karşıyaka Municipality
- Visit to Saadet Çağlın, Deputy Mayor of Karşıyaka Municipality, Member of Roma Dialogue Network
- Visit to Konak Municipality Research and Development (R&D) Manager Turan Ateş, a Member of the Romani Dialogue Network
- Roma Dialogue Network Team Visited the Mayor of Efes Selçuk.
- Roma Dialogue Network Team was in Izmir Ephesus
- Roman Dialogue Network - RODA Members Gathered at the Project Planning Workshop
- Roman Academy in Izmir
- Roman Dialogue Network - RODA Members Will Gather at the Project Planning Workshop
- We Carried Out the Council of Europe Roma Mediators Training
- We Came Together with the Mayor of Muratlı, Mr. Nebi Tepe, as part of the Second Phase of the ROMACTED Program
- We Came Together with the Mayor of Uzunköprü Ms. Özlem Becan as part of the Second Phase of the ROMACTED Program
The Roma Dialogue Network (RODA) published the report "Roma Children's Access to Education in the Time of Pandemic". RODA's Coordinator Elmas Arus announced that while the rate of Romani children's access to education was 60 percent before the pandemic, this rate has decreased to 2 percent today. Arus said, “At least, children who could reach school in the neighborhoods we went to had dreams. When we talked to the same children in the same neighborhoods, the children stopped dreaming,” he said.
Many children in the world and in Turkey are deprived of their basic vital rights. According to the June 2021 report prepared by the International Labor Organization ILO and UNICEF, the number of children employed as workers has increased by 8.4 million in the last 4 years and reached 160 million. According to the report prepared by CHP Deputy Chairman Gülizar Biçer Karaca and the Occupational Health and Safety Council report, there are at least 2 million child workers in Turkey.
As a result of the interviews conducted by RODA with 117 households in regions such as Edirne, Tekirdağ, Gaziantep, Manisa and Gömeç, it was evaluated that Roma children were pushed into labor.
The report “Roma Children's Access to Education during the Pandemic Period” deals in detail with the main barriers and problems Roma children experience in their access to education. In the images RODA took in the Roma neighborhoods for the report, the children also talked about the problems they experienced. In the images RODA took in the Roma neighborhoods for the report, the children also talked about the problems they experienced.
RODA Coordinator Elmas Arus evaluated the main topics of the report for ANKA News Agency. Arus said:
“WITH THE WORK WE HAVE DONE, 60 PERCENT OF ROMANTIC CHILDREN HAVE ACCESS TO EDUCATION, WHICH IS CURRENTLY 2-2 AND ½ PERCENT”
“Before the pandemic, Roma children had serious difficulties in accessing education. With the pandemic, Roma children have almost come to the point of breaking with education. Especially before the pandemic, the technical inadequacy of schools, the poverty of families, discrimination in schools, prejudices, the existence of Romani schools, the existence of Romani classes, as well as the poverty experienced at the same time were serious obstacles to children's access to education. In addition to these obstacles, after the pandemic, children almost never had access to education as victims of digital inequalities. In our previous studies, we have seen in the field that while 60 percent of Roma children have access to education, the rate of access to education is currently around 2-2 and a half percent.
As you can see, the children had a serious break. Gender inequality among these children was also evident. Especially girls were negatively affected by this break. Many were forced into early marriages as they were often described as being too much of a stray to be at home because they couldn't be diverted to anything else, and many married early. Children who did not marry early were cut off from school and lost hope of access to school. Because still, many of them cannot go to school. Likewise, these children try to contribute to the family economy by collecting scrap in the field, going to floristry, and cleaning with their families to contribute to the family economy. Because the situation in the family is more difficult than anything else. Roma families are officially struggling with hunger.
“IF THE PANDEMIC DOESN'T KILL US, WE WILL BE IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD AT ALL AND CONTRIBUTE TO OUR FAMILY”
We see the effects of the pandemic hard in the neighborhoods; In the neighborhoods we went to before, children who were able to reach school had dreams, at least at work: "We don't want to collect scrap, we want to be civil servants" or "We want to be teachers, we want to be a police officer". When we talked to the same children in the same neighborhoods, the children stopped dreaming. Children's dreams come to an end with school. What are you going to do now? They are so affected by the violence of the pandemic that they either say 'We will help our family earn money' or they say 'If we do not die, if the pandemic does not kill us, at least we will be in our neighborhood, we will contribute to our family'.
In the neighborhoods where we studied, only three children of three families and only one of those children had tablets. There is no internet even with the tablet. The last thing the family can buy is the internet. He uses what he can get for food anyway, or he never uses his budget for other needs because there is none.
“WE SEE FAMILIES GOING TO THE TENT BECAUSE THEY CANNOT PAY THE RENTAL”
When we went to visit a family in Gaziantep, the mother went to collect scrap and the father went to look for a job. For example, the child is talking about chips, he says that the chips shop is not coming, there are ready-made chips there, he will actually close a meal. Many families without electricity and water. We saw families going out to tents because they couldn't pay the rent. In all this picture, we do not see the problems of children at all.
“CHILDREN SHOULD BE REMEMBERED TO BE A CHILD, AND THE NECESSARY SUPPORT MUST BE MADE FOR THAT”
20 November world children's rights day defends the right to a humane life and foresees the creation of conditions for children to live as children. But in general, Roma children; We see that they do not remember that they are children, that they cannot see that they are children. Children should be reminded of this state of being a child as soon as possible and necessary support should be provided.
“THE FAMILY NEEDS TO BE STRENGTHENED”
There is no single solution, they need integrated solutions. The family needs to be strengthened, the areas of basic rights victimization of the family need to be eliminated. A serious anti-discrimination principle needs to be developed and a strategy and an action plan related to this need to be developed. In order to eradicate the poverty and deprivation situation experienced by children, all deficiencies must be completed, not just in education, in all units.