On June 8th, 2021, Mr. Redjepali Chupi, the director of REF Serbia, together with Ms. Jadranka Ivkovic, the director of the first branch of the European Roma Institute for Art and Culture – ERIAC in Serbia, and Mr. Ljuan Koko, the director of Center for Education of Roma and Ethnic Communities (CEREZ) had an official meeting with the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, Mr. Branko Ruzic.
“It was a successful meeting from several points of view, but two achievements are really important. First of all, we agreed to extend our cooperation on all educational levels and to use the available EU funds in Serbia as much as possible in our joint effort to improve the current situation of the Roma community. Secondly, Ms. Jadranka Ivkovic, Director of the branch office of ERIAC, pointed out during the meeting the need to change the school curriculum by substantially increasing the number of lessons related to Roma culture, history, and tradition but also the quality of the classes, emphasizing the importance of presenting this subject in a positive context“ – Redjepali Chupi, director of REF Serbia and interim director of REF Foundation.
REF Serbia continues to support secondary schools, Mr. Chupi added, with the goal to decrease the dropout rates, improve academic achievement, and increase the number of Roma high school graduates.
Another important topic of the discussion was raised by Mr. Koko. He emphasized the importance of Roma teachers who need to have a better overall status and position within their institutions.
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The goal of the REF’s work is to reduce the dropout rate, which was successfully accomplished. The dropout rate was diminished from 7 to 2.4 percent. Through the high school scholarship and mentoring program, 655 Roma high school students received scholarships, 1310 scholarships were provided, 709 mentors were hired in 177 high schools in 94 municipalities in Serbia. The number of high school graduates has increased from 98 to 148 annually.
The biggest result of REF in the field of education is the recognized and adopted model of support to Roma students in secondary schools by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, which REF has designed, developed, and implemented in Serbia since 2007.
