Bujanovac, Vranjska Spa – As part of implementing the project "Stop Child Labor", which aims to stop Roma children from dropping out of the education system because of working together with their parents, 31 children from 30 Roma families did not work with their parents, nor drop out of school.

According to Kenan Rasitovic, the coordinator of the "Youth Center for the Education of Roma" NGO in Bujanovac, the project was carried out in cooperation with the "Roma Cultural Center" from Vranje Spa, while it was implemented in Bujanovac and Vranje Spa.

“138 Roma children received school textbooks, 13 Roma students completed secondary school at the Adult Education Center in Vranje, 12 Roma parents received additional training or were re-trained for the occupations for which there were needs on the labor market, school meals were provided for Roma children and Roma families in which there were indications that their children would drop out of regular education because of working together with their parents were economically empowered, " Mr. Rasitovic said.  

The coordinator of the "Youth Center for the Education of Roma" thanked the local self-governments in Bujanovac and Vranje for the cooperation, as well as the Fund for an Open Society in Belgrade and the Adult Education Center in Vranje, the Centers for Social Work in Vranje and Bujanovac and non-governmental organizations in South Serbia. 

Zvezdan Ramic, the coordinator of the "Roma Cultural Center" in Vranje Spa, proposed the establishment of social cooperatives in the region.

Amet Arifi, a social worker at the Center for Social Work in Bujanovac, said that the employment of Roma who had finished school would especially motivate Roma families to have their children educated, adding that there were almost no Roma at the working places in the state administration.

Danijela Milosavljevic, an employee responsible for social affairs of the City of Vranje, pointed to the lack of activities of the inspection bodies in cases when Roma children drop out of the education system.

Gordana Dimitrijevic, the Director of the Adult Education Center in Vranje, said that that institution intensively cooperated with Roma NGOs and would continue to assist them in the implementation of their projects related to the problems in the education of Roma children and Roma who had not completed primary school.

Source: Vranje News and Coordination Body