MINELRES: Roma conferences in Russia

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Roma Network <romale@zahav.net.il> 


From: Marjanna Seslavinskaja <marjana@romale.ru>

The Conference on Roma education in Russia 

On March 23, 2004 a Roma Conference was held in the Moscow House of
Nations. It was organized by IPF Union of public Roma organizations
�Romane phrala�.

The agenda on the 23rd of March was the issue of creation of a Roma
education program in the framework of the All-Russian education system.
There was a dialog between the government officials and the public. The
Conference was visited by the representatives of the Ministry of Science
and Education of the Russian Federation, Deputy Minister of
Nationalities, the representative of the Human Rights Plenipotentiary in
the Russian Federation, heads of Romani public organizations from
different regions of Russia, representatives of Roma intelligenzia,
culture issues experts, representatives of the Romani law center in St.
Petersburg, deputy principal of one of the Leningrad region schools with
Roma classes.

It was stated that the issue of a Roma educational program in Russia has
become very acute in the last few years. The changes in the social and
economic spheres in Russia in the past 15 years negatively affected the
lifestyle of the ethnic minority of Roma. Many Romas found themselves
unable to compete on the free market. Taking into account their
traditionally large families, it immediately decreased their living
standards. In many places, especially in smaller towns, the children
abandoned school. For the first time there were 18-20 year-old people
who didn�t know how to write or read. And this age segment is the first
in criminal activities. On the other hand, the overall illiteracy level
results in lack of legal information, which often allows the law agents
to violate the civil rights of Roma. 

The settlement of the educational issue can also help to solve some
other problems of Roma. Unfortunately, some Roma children, especially in
the most crowded areas, cannot use their right for education because
they don�t speak Russian. In addition they are unable to fulfill their
right to study their own language and literature, as well as their
history and literature. Meanwhile, other countries have issued Roma
textbooks and educational programs several decades ago. So it is time to
create the same Roma program in Russia. It was stated that there is a
need in specialists for working at schools and universities with the
profound knowledge of the Romani language, literature, history and
culture.

The participants of the Conference signed an appeal to the Minister of
Science and Education of the Russian Federation, where they listed the
reasons for creating a base for the Roma educational program.


Georgij Tsvetkov, President of Interregional Public Fund Union of public
Roma organizations �Romane phrala�.

Created by Marjanna Seslavinskaja
 

The Romology Conference in Russia

On March 22, 2004 a Conference in Romology was held in the Moscow House
of Nations. It was organized by IPF Union of public Roma organizations
�Romane phrala�. The following speeches, covering different aspects of
the Romani language and culture teaching, were made:

N. Belugina. The principles of learning and teaching of the Roma
literature.

N. Bessonov. The problem of fixation and comprehension of the Roma
history on the example of the ethnic group of Kishinev Romas in Russia.

V. Voskanyan. A few words about Bosha, the name for Armenian Romas.

M. Seslavinskaya. Linguistic and socialy-cultural factors of creating
the name for Roma groups in the North-West India.

G. Tsvetkov. The problem of ethno-caste origin of Romas.

L. Cherenkov. The problem of Roma dialects learning.

V. Shapoval. The philological myth about the Roma contribution to the
thieves' cant.

 
Created by Marjanna Seslavinskaja
Roma Union �Romane �hrala�, Russia