On 24 September 2020 Redjepali Chupi, Co-Director of the Roma Education Fund, met with Mila Carovska, Minister of Education and Science of North Macedonia, in the capital of Skopje to discuss positive experiences and practices resulting from their joint cooperation, particularly the REF-funded project transformations into public policies in the country.
So far, REF has been cooperating with the Ministry of Education and Sciences of North Macedonia (MoES) under the Secondary Scholarship and Mentorship/Tutorship Program (running between 2009-2016). The program encompasses scholarships for Roma students, which have been fully funded by the budget of the MoES, and mentorship and tutorship models which have been covered by REF. Among the institutionalized practices stemming from its collaboration with the MoES is that the project staff under the secondary school scholarship and mentorship/tutorship program have been offered and currently hold full-time positions at the MoES.
Another focus of teamwork between the two entities is the Tutoring of Roma Children in Primary Education (particularly 2nd-6th grade, a project running during 2012-2016). A good practice deriving from the joint initiative is that Roma mediators’ profession has been institutionalized (particularly in primary education), and the mediators received contract-based employment by the MoES.
In 2018 REF launched the EU Regional Action for Increasing Educational Opportunities for Roma in Western Balkans and Turkey, a project for which the educational ministry in the country expressed its full support.
An additional topic of discussion during the meeting of REF’s Co-Director and the Minister of Education and Science was the Emergency Fund implementation in North Macedonia, Phase 1, in response to the remote learning requirement caused by the global pandemic. It was stated that the emergency plan envisages distribution of tablets to altogether 650 Roma children and youth in different education levels, and over 450 devices have been already distributed throughout the country. Regarding the 2nd Phase of the Emergency Fund, the parties agreed to keep the communication alive and contribute their best to the implementation of the second phase.
“The provision of scholarships for secondary and tertiary students, which is fully funded by the MoES, as mentioned above, and the additional support through mentorship and tutorship, which is to be financed by REF, will continue in the new school year 2020/2021, as both MoES and REF will attempt at collaboratively responding to the challenges occurring from the pandemic and the new school reality. At the end of the meeting, mutual will for future cooperation has been expressed by both parties”, reported Redjepali Chupi.
