E.O., a male student who attends second grade of Combined Secondary Traffic School in Tuzla, lives in the Roma community in Tuzla, in an eight-member family, where all three children regularly attend school.
In school year 2019/2020 he has been a beneficiary under by the REF-funded project „Support for Roma High School Students through Scholarships, Mentoring and Tutoring“*. Through the mentioned project E.O. received scholarship, mentoring and tutoring services, as he was then in the first grade of secondary education. In school year 2020/2021 Ernes continued to be a beneficiary under the same project.
In July 2020, E.O. received a tablet with free internet access under the REF Emergency Response to COVID-19 project “Advanced Technologies for Effective Education of Roma Children from ECD through Secondary Education in Bosnia and Herzegovina”. Initially, the Roma boy he did not want to accept the tablet, believing it would be an additional obligation for him and he would not enjoy the summer vacation. However, the outreach team explained how E.’s siblings, who attend primary school, could benefit from the equipment by using it for educational purposes.
Once asked by the project team what kind of education help E.O. needs, the 17-year old boy confessed he needs assistance in learning better Bosnian language. Sabina Suljanovic, a tutor, was assigned to work with the young boy in August to improve his readiness for the following school year, as he had a passing grade (sufficient) at the end of first grade. The tutor expressed her satisfaction with Ernes’ work, explaining that the student was happy to cooperate, active and communicative during the tutoring classes.
* The REF-funded project „Support for Roma High School Students through Scholarships, Mentoring and Tutoring“ has been implemented by the Roma Association „Euro Rom“ Tuzla in the area of Tuzla Canton, Bosnia and Herzegovina (September 2019 – July 2021).
** This REF project is funded within the Emergency Response to COVID-19 Fund – “Advanced Technologies for Effective Education of Roma Children from ECD through Secondary Education in Bosnia and Herzegovina”. The project’s lead is the Association of Roma „Euro Rom“ Tuzla and the partners in the consortium are Roma Support Center “Romalen” Kakanj, Roma Association “Strengthening/Zuralipe” Vitez, “Kali Sara–Roma Information Centre” Sarajevo and Union of Roma NGOs Republika Srpska (RS) Gradiska.
