School segregation of Romani students in Spain

The Kamira Federation of Romani Women’s Associations (and its federated association, the Panyabi Women’s Association) and the Mario Maya Foundation, with financing from the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), wanted to study the issue of educational segregation of Romani children in Spain, with the objective of assessing the characteristics of the problem, raising awareness and working towards solutions to help mitigate or resolve this situation.

The Kamira Federation of Romani Women’s Associations (and its federated association, the Panyabi Women’s Association) and the Mario Maya Foundation, with financing from the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), wanted to study the issue of educational segregation of Romani children in Spain, with the objective of assessing the characteristics of the problem, raising awareness and working towards solutions to help mitigate or resolve this situation.

This report is the first of its kind to document the segregation of Romani children in schools in any country in Western Europe. Concrete data was taken from 23 selected schools located in four cities (Madrid, Barcelona, Cordoba, and Badajoz).

In half of the schools studied, Romani students represented between 50% and 100% of the student population, however in none of the neighborhoods where those schools are located does the Romani community exceed 50% of the total local community. The percentaje of Roma in the Spanish population is approximately 1.4%. The report also explores other segregatory practices, such as the separation of Roma students into special support classes and their frequent expulsions from schools for long periods of time.

There is no policy or legislation at the national or regional levels that contains specific measures to prevent the segregation of Romani students in public schools. Such measures to reduce the segregation of children from immigrant background, however, are currently in place.

The President of KAMIRA, Ms. Carmen Santiago, considers that “in order to solve this situation it is necessary to raise awareness among government stakeholders and change existing educational policies.”

The report also explores the causes that have led to the current situation and proposes concrete recommendations and solutions that have been proven to be effective tools in addressing this issue.

For more information:
Ostalinda Maya (English and Spanish)
Co-author of the report
Tel: 0034619791684
ostalinda@gmail.com

Carmen Santiago Reyes (Spanish)
Attorney and Research Coordinator
T. 0034606 939 339
E. santiagoreyes@telefonica.net