Early in the morning Mariana Kováčová wakes up and walks her two children to school. Mariana lives in the Roma majority locality, Stará Tehelňa in Prešov, Slovakia. Ever since her locality was divided into four school districts, in an attempt to desegregate schools, Mariana has had to walk double the distance to get her children to school. Thanks to a new initiative by Roma Education Fund Grantee, Equal Chances Association (ECHA), Mariana is now able to use the bus and cut down her commute with her children.
“Our Tomáš can never sit too long, but he loves to travel by trolleybus” says Mrs. Kováčová, who has been an active parent in ECHA activities since 2016. “Until the new ticket we often walked to school by foot, which took half an hour or more. It [the bus pass] allows me to use my time and budget more effectively so I was able to enroll my younger son in kindergarten this September. He is only three years old, so the kindergarten fees will be quite high, but I can afford it when the transportation is only 1 EUR each month.”
ECHA, a grantee of REF since 2007, focuses on increasing the number of Roma children in primary school through facilitating access to formal and non-formal preschool education. Their activities engage parents, contribute to the improvement of parental skills and provide inclusive environments for Roma children by developing curriculum materials for teachers and parents. ECHA works in the two socially excluded communities of Prešov and Zborov.
Through a long term cooperation with the municipality of Prešov, and a shared understanding of the importance of inclusive early childhood education, ECHA was invited as the first NGO to participate in the Committee for Roma Education. The Committee was established by the Prešov municipality school department in order to increase the number of Roma children in mainstream kindergartens and improve access to and attendance in preschool and primary education for Roma children. Members of the Committee are representatives of primary schools, kindergartens, the school department, the municipality and Roma NGOs.
The Committee concluded that while the recently adopted desegregation regulation, which divided the locality Stará Tehelňa into four different school districts, was a progressive step towards inclusion, it also led to problems of transportation for Roma children, as schools were no longer walking distance from the community.
In order to combat absenteeism and increase the attendance rate in primary schools and kindergartens, ECHA was able to negotiate with community members and the municipality of Prešov in Slovakia to introduce a reduced monthly bus pass of 1 EUR for socially disadvantaged families. After negotiations with the public transport company of Prešov, Dopravný Podnik Mesta Prešov a.s., and the Mayor’s Office, the Committee was successful in establishing transportation support in the form of a long-term electronic ticket (bus pass) for a reduced price of 1 EUR per month. The bus pass is valid for a child plus their adult companion to use on school days, with the adult being able to use the pass freely between bringing and picking up their child during the day. Conditions for being eligible for the pass include: the child’s attendance rate which is monitored monthly, the child’s age (must be under 10 years of age) and the family meeting at least three of the eight criteria to be considered from a socially disadvantage environment as defined by Slovak law.
Since coming into effect in November 2018, over 108 Roma children have benefitted from the project, using the bus pass with their parent to travel to and from primary school and kindergarten.
Parents have expressed their gratitude and happiness with the bus pass system, stating that although they knew a long-term ticket was more convenient in the past, it was never a viable option due to financial restrictions.
Feedback from primary and kindergarten teachers and the transportation company have all been positive. Teachers have noted the success of the bus pass in keeping the attendance rate high and predict its importance will become even more crucial when more children attend school as a result of the lowering of the compulsory school age expected in 2021.
“This pilot project is an example of a successful cooperation between the civil society, represented by NGOs and the public sector represented by the school department” says Edita Kovářová, ECHA project manager and member of the Committee. “We all became one team under the Committee for Roma Education. ECHA provided the school department with excellent argumentation based on our educational work directly in Roma communities and the school department used this information to successfully lobby the Mayor’s Office”.
The pilot project reaches beyond the Roma community in Prešov, as all citizens who meet the requirements are eligible for the bus pass. In addition to increasing general attendance rate in all kindergartens and primary schools, this measure will also work towards reducing delinquency and the related administration burdens of issuing fines.
Ms. Kovářová states, “Today we have a fully functioning sustainable system of transportation support for all children in Prešov from socially disadvantaged environments.”
