Identity and the Integration Process in Bulgaria: the Case of the Roma Minority

by Plamena Ivanova

History and Origin of Roma

Origin of Roma and First Migrations to Europe

Roma, widely known as gypsies, are one of the biggest and most quintessential minority group in Europe. Although Roma have lived in Europe for more than 500 years and are estimated to be around twelve million now, they are still considered strangers who are alienated from the majority of the population. They have never had a country of their own or a government in the places in which they lived. Their origin and identity are also quite controversial. As Roma do not have written history, the theories of their origin and migrations are mainly based on legends, linguistics and anthropology. Many theories about the origin of Roma hold that they came from Egypt and consequently that was the reason for giving them the name “gypsies”. Linguistic evidence, on the other hand, suggests that they are of diverse Indian origins that also followed the Indian caste system (Gresham et. al., 2001). What is known about Roma, however, is the fact that they first came in Europe about a thousand years ago to the Byzantine Empire. They travelled as extended families, sometimes reaching up to hundreds of people. Their migration movements here in Europe are marked by three significant events. The first one was in the end of 19^th century, after the gypsy slavery in Romania was abolished. The second one was when Roma were persecuted out of Yugoslavia in the 1960s and 1970s and the third one was just a decade ago when Roma had to flee because of the political and economic changes in Eastern Europe (Reyniers 1995, see Gresham et al., 2001). Nowadays, Roma can be found everywhere in Europe, from Finland to Greece and from Ireland to Russia (Tanner, 2005). The greatest numbers of Roma, however, are still concentrated in Central and Southeast Europe – 90% of Europe’s Roma population.

History of Roma in Bulgaria

In Bulgaria, Roma were first recorded to be present in the 13^th and the 14^th century. From their coming onwards, they were at the bottom of society and lived outside the boundaries of the residential areas. Later, during the World War II, Bulgaria allied with Germany and introduced many restrictive laws for Roma. In the capital, Roma were denied from central places, they couldn’t use public transport and were given smaller food rations than the rest of the population. Despite the many violations of Roma rights during that period, however, Bulgarians do not feel guilt for their actions because Bulgaria was maybe the only German ally who didn’t agree to submit its Jews and gypsies to concentration camps abroad. After the World War II, the Communist regime in Bulgaria established special policies for Roma which differed in their core idea and implementation. The communist regimes of postwar Eastern Europe approached the “Gypsy problem” from a different angle, viewing it as a social problem that could be solved by settling and proletarianizing the Roma (Cooper, 2001/2002). Firstly, Roma were depicted as lazy, irresponsible and lacking culture and those stereotypes were the main reason for the government to proclaim the struggle for their “full integration in the construction of socialism and their transformation from beggars and robbers into conscientious and good constructors of socialism” (SCCBCP, 1959; see Spirova, 2000). At the beginning of these policies, the government tried to disintegrate the already formed Roma communities and to scatter Roma families among Bulgarians. The chief goal with this policy was to permanently erase Roma identity and language and to blur all the differences between Roma and the rest of the population. The communist times for the Roma in Bulgaria were times of desegregation and then forced assimilation. In 1956, the national census was the last one that mentioned the Roma as a minority in Bulgaria (Spirova, 2000). After that, the Bulgarian authorities didn’t recognize the existence Roma community anymore. In addition, the Bulgarian word for “gypsy” - “ciganin”, was officially considered offending and inappropriate to use. This item of the assimilation policy was not really based on the concern of offending Roma or not but it mainly tried to forward the process of assimilation of Roma into the Bulgarian society. Even nowadays in Bulgaria, to call the Roma “gypsies” is considered politically incorrect.

Another item from the policies was the forcedly changing of names of the citizens from Romani and Turkish origin – also a form of erasing deviations from Bulgarian identity. In the late 1960s, the effectiveness of the already implemented policies was still not visible enough. Forced assimilation couldn’t erase effectively the lasting-for-centuries inequality between Roma and non-Roma. Although by the end of the 1980s most of the Roma had Bulgarian names, spoke Bulgarian and were officially called, “Bulgarians of Gypsy origin”, they were never considered de facto part of Bulgarian society by either the authorities or -even more- by the rest of the population (Eminov, 1997:119; see Spirova, 2000). Despite the widely-accepted notion of the failure of the communist assimilation policies, however, the life of this minority group under communism was pretty tolerable – they had access to housing, health care and jobs - things which they barely have access to nowadays. What is more, the communist period was maybe the only period in which Roma had the chance to study in mixed schools and to improve their social status equally with the rest of the people. The cost which Roma had to pay in order to be able to go to mixed schools was that they had to agree to conceal or deny their ethnic identity.

After the fall of Communism in 1989, the situation in Bulgaria sharply deteriorated for the whole population. Roma, however, were the first to feel the “wind of change” and to suffer from the worst economic situation. Roma were the first to get unemployed when factories closed down. What is more, after the agricultural cooperatives dissolved (agricultural cooperative was a communist idea of appropriating people’s land into one common regional cooperative and making everyone work on this land and later share the production equally), Roma also lost their agricultural jobs but at the same time they couldn’t appropriate any land for different reasons. With the advent of democracy, Roma unemployment reached much higher levels than the average for the country. In 1994, 76 per cent of working-age Roma were unemployed with the number reaching even 90 per cent in some regions, while only about 10-20 per cent held steady jobs (Tomova, I., 1995:71-78; see Spirova, 2000). According to data from 2004, today one in every five Roma has been unemployed for more than 10 years, while one in two have been unemployed for more than 5 years (Ministry of Labour and Social Policy 2004: 52; see Gounev, 2006). Due to the fact that the Constitution of Bulgaria forbids the establishment of political parties based on ethnic or religious grounds, Roma didn’t have any political party which could actively protect their interests. The mass poverty, as well as the state’s withdrawal from the problems of Roma created conditions that resulted in many Roma being involved in petty crimes outside their communities. Gradually, organized crime groups started to involve some Roma communities in various low-level forms of organized crime, such as drugs distribution, illegal timber and scrap metal trades, tax fraud schemes, usury, prostitution rings, and human trafficking (Ministry of Interior, 2002; see Gounev, 2006).

Current Situation of Roma

Although, for the majority of people Roma are seen as a unified group who are illiterate, depersonalized and lacking work discipline, the reality behind these ideas is a bit different. Roma throughout Europe represent a very heterogeneous group separated along religious, professional, linguistic and family lines. In Bulgaria alone there are more than fifty socially diverse Romani populations, talking approximately six different Roma dialects. But despite the differences within them, Roma arouse similar notions and ideas to the majority almost everywhere. According to the results of surveys on attitudes, stereotypes, prejudices and social distance toward ethnic and religious minorities in all the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Roma are the most rejected of all minority groups (Csepeli et al., 2000; see Csepeli, 2004). Formal and informal discrimination and racism are everyday practice in Bulgaria and statements such as “The Roma are genetically inclined to commit crimes”, “You can’t trust or rely on Gypsies” or “Gypsies are lazy and irresponsible”, have been conspicuously rising. Many people in Eastern European countries strongly support the thesis that Roma live solely on welfare and charity and because of the fact that this “technique” of theirs is working they do not bother to do anything else. On the other hand, development projects, which aim at building houses for Roma and helping them change the infrastructure of their slum-like segregated neighborhoods additionally cause friction and reluctance among the majority of Bulgarians who never had such governmental assistance for themselves. People cannot realize that until the country does not do anything for Roma and their way of living, it is impossible for them to be integrated. According to an official survey, Roma homes are on average inhabited by 6.9 persons (compared to 2.6 for a Bulgarian home), while only 34.7 per cent of those homes have main water supply and a sewerage system (in comparison to 66.1 per cent for the Bulgarians) (Official census, as cited in Tomova, I., 1995:68; see Spirova, 2000).

In many Bulgarian criminal reports Roma ethnicity and delinquency very often go hand in hand and this correlation is one the most frequently implied. It is a widely-known problem that police officers treat Roma by excessive use of force and sometimes even torture. But the facts and figures would also find it difficult to prove that Roma do not represent a big percentage of those who commit crimes. According to statistics of the Ministry of the Interior, Roma carries out 31.7 per cent of all crime in Bulgaria (Spirova, 2000). These findings, to some extent, illustrate how a classic ‘‘underclass’’ has become over-criminalized but, in essence, they bring up the question of agency, as they demonstrate the role and importance of law-enforcement institutions in enforcing and reinforcing a socially imposed exclusion and criminalization (Parenti 2000; see Gounev, 2006). Very often representatives of Eastern European countries attribute the bad reputation of the region and the country under question to the illegal Roma migrants to the West. Representatives from many Eastern European countries tend to believe that the international prestige of their homeland without the Roma citizens would be much higher (Csepeli, 2004).

The media in Bulgaria also attribute a lot for the negative attitude towards Roma by doing anti-Roma coverage and depictions which further influence the already long-established stereotypes. Recently, ultra-nationalistic parties in Bulgaria are also on their peak. They are gathering significant percentages of votes by emphasizing on Roma, the crime rates of their community and their alienation which will be impossible to overcome. Founded just two months before the Bulgarian parliamentary elections, the ultranationalist Ataka (Attack) party won 8.75 percent of the popular vote and is now controlling 21 seats in the legislature (Vassilev, 2006). Paradoxically, such attitudes are surfacing at the end of Bulgaria’s transition to democracy, which has so far enjoyed relatively peaceful interethnic relations (Gounev, 2006).

The social and demographic outlook of the Roma minorities which are different from those of the majority of the population are also factors which influence the negative attitudes towards Roma; the majority rarely have enough tolerance for the “otherness” of Roma and to their different lifestyle and values.Roma in Bulgaria are estimated to be around 577,000 and 600,000. The number of Roma on official papers is around 313 396. But the official data shouldn’t be taken for granted, because in national censuses many Roma hide their ethnic origin from fear that they could be discriminated against and stigmatized if they say they are Roma. The more interesting thing is that Bulgaria still does not officially recognize Roma as a minority group. Some have claimed that national minorities can only be ethnic groups that have a “mother country” (Spirova, 2000). This fact leaves Roma as an ethnic group, rather than a minority. Some have even argued against the use of the term minority in Bulgaria as a whole (Rudnikova, 1998; Spirova, 2000).

The high birth rate of Roma in Bulgaria is also a factor adding to the animosity of the majority of the population. The poor education of Roma, the lack of information among them, as well as the cultural practices of getting married at an early age are some of the influences for the high birth rate among them. Since 1992, while the overall population in Bulgaria dropped by 6.6%, the Roma population increased by 18.1%, according to the national census data (National Statistics Institute 2005b; see Gounev, 2006). The Bulgarian population, as a response, perceived a threat from Roma and their high birth rate and this further influenced the social intolerance among the two groups. The fear that the target group may pose a political danger to one's state or personal security may appear completely real to an individual yet have no objective basis (McIntosh, 1995). In particular, individuals who feel their cultural or political status is declining relative to a minority group in a society, may feel partially threatened and react, in a "status backlash," to restrict the rights of the threatening group (McIntosh, 1995). Such reactions can be either rational or irrational, although the prevalence of conspiracy theories in the media additionally feed this “Quondam Complex” and would rather influence the majority into irrational, psychologically motivated responses towards Roma. Thus, the more threatened one feels, the more probable it is that he is intolerant towards a minority group. Merton's typology (1976) on prejudice and social tolerance also shows that how one acts toward minorities is a friction not only of one's feelings toward the group but also of normative expectations and societal constraints (McIntosh, 1995). The facts and figures on the birth rate in Bulgaria are also quite worrisome. Bulgarian authorities are worried (although such worries are rarely expressed in public) by the fact that 60-70 % of all newborns in 2003 and 2004 came from the country's minority groups - Roma, Turks, etc. Such a tendency could reduce the share of Slavic Bulgarians to less than 60 percent of the total population by 2050 (Vassilev, 2006). Such data is showing that a seemingly inevitable demographic development could further the already existing ethno-religious tensions between the majority and the minority in Bulgaria.

Professor Zoltan Barany, an expert on gypsy issues, says that gypsies are certainly having trouble keeping in pace with change. ''If they aren't educated, they could become a population time-bomb. They'll have nothing to lose, and could create social havoc or a social-services crisis'' (Burke, 1995). Although such statements are easily used by human rights movements to emphasize the existence of negative attitudes and animosity towards Roma even among those in higher positions in society, it is a fact that integration policies are not working and if this doesn’t change, the predictions cannot be any positive. and at the same time they are internally divided in their own community. Roma themselves discourage intermarriage with other ethnic groups. Intermarriage is not only discouraged by Roma but also by the majority of the population in Bulgaria, as well as by the rest of the minority groups. According to the International Centre for Minority Studies and Inter-cultural Relations (ICMSIR) survey, Roma are viewed by all Bulgarian Christians, Turks, and Bulgarian Muslims as a lazy, irresponsible, untrustworthy, and highly homogeneous group with which nobody else should mix (ICMSIR, 1994:117; see Nenkova et al., 2002). Such factors make it even harder to come up with efficient policies and later, by the help of Roma, to try to implement them. Just as always, there is lack of state policies which aim at the integration of Roma. The problems are many and the discussion around them can go on forever. So, the rest of this research paper will mainly focus of educational policies and reforms done in education of Roma children and their integration into society.

Education of Roma: the case of Bulgaria

The education of Roma in Bulgaria is a long-living problem which seems quite difficult to tackle. Eighty per cent of the Roma in Bulgaria are uneducated and illiterate. From the rest (20%), there are 10% who have finished only primary school, 5% who have finished secondary school and the most striking percentage – 0.17% who have a university degree. The Roma illiteracy rate is 15 times higher than the rate for the non-Roma population (Ringold et al. 2003; see Gounev, 2006). More than 70% of the Roma in Bulgaria who go to school actually go to segregated schools and the rest who go to mixed schools are very often segregated into classes consisting only of Roma children. Another common practice in Bulgaria today is to put a big number of healthy Roma into specialized schools for children with mental disabilities or some kind of deviant behaviors. From these basic facts and statistics on the education of Roma it is clear that schooling is one of the main contributors for the exclusion of Roma from the Bulgarian society. The ineffective school policies for Roma keep them unprepared for the challenges of the labor market by keeping them uneducated and even functionally illiterate.

Roma and Education in the Past

The low level of literacy among Roma is a trend which has existed in Bulgaria for a long time. At the beginning of the century, the literacy rate among Bulgarian Roma was 3%, while the one among Bulgarians was 47% (Crowe, 1996:13; see Spirova, 2000). However, in the years 1901-1925 the literacy of Roma tripled due to the new policies which were implemented. During the communist period, Roma were also getting educated and going to mixed schools. Education in Bulgaria became compulsory first for eight years and later for twelve, as parents who didn’t insist their children to go to school were punished with fines or compulsory labour. The school was seen as the main socialization agent, tasked to erase any differences among children from different ethnic and religious communities and to transform them into ‘builders of the new socialist system’ (Csepeli, 2004). Roma parents were pressured to send their children to school but many parents also saw their children’s going to school as a bargain. The state offered free education, free teaching materials, free meals and clothing. What is more, many teachers were responsible for taking care of all their students both in and out of the school. They were paid extra hours for going to people’s homes by the end of the day and checking if children are there and if they did their work for the next day. Although Roma parents agreed to some extent to send their children to school, even during communist times, the educational ethic did not become part of the values of Roma. Any time when something ‘important’ happened - e.g. taking care of younger children in the family, visiting relatives, emergence of some temporary job or something else - the children were not sent to school (Csepeli, 2004). Children’s numerous absences from school further influenced their lagging behind. Additional factor was that many children did not have command of Bulgarian language which made them even more vulnerable to their own failure. There was a great need for pre-school classes but the linguistic barriers and the socio-linguistic codes which Roma children were unaware of were entirely neglected by those responsible for the educational system in Bulgaria. As a result, Roma children were often claimed to be retarded, and put in special schools for mentally disabled students. Attempts to reduce differences in social, educational and cultural status between Roma and non-Roma by coercion and avoiding Roma participation in the decision making process also had negative outcomes (Csepeli, 2004). Under the forced assimilation, many Roma developed dysfunctional strategies of coping such as ‘learned helplessness’ and striving for instant gratification when doing something which is beneficial for no one else but themselves.

The education of Roma today

The moment when Roma were segregated from the rest of the children (a process which was not forced but happened gradually), their educational level deteriorated significantly. Those who still went to mixed schools felt discriminated against and the extra attention which they needed in order to learn Bulgarian language before starting with real education was still not offered to them. The Roma children’s specific cultural and social characteristics like their skin colour, their mother tongue and dressing made them suffer from the poor treatment from both teachers and students (Mihailova, 1993:27-29; see Gouneva, 2000). As a result from, children developed negative attitudes towards schooling and were not stimulated anyhow to keep the good work. They were still absent from classes and additionally started getting involved in petty crimes, which again seemed good enough reasons for the specialized schools to enrol them as problematic children with minor mental retardations or deviant behaviour. The fact that these special schools also provided social assistance in the form of food, clothing, shoes, and free textbooks was an additional stimulus for some poor families to enroll their children in such schools (Nenkova, 2002). About 65% of the total number of children in institutions now are of Roma origins, even though the Roma make up only 8% of the country’s population, according to data from the National Statistical Institute (Nenkova, 2002). In addition, the children can not rely on the support of their family - a handicap to them for which the state school system never provided any compensation (Courthiades, 2000; see Gouneva, 2000). Interesting is also the fact that many Roma parents actually want to enroll their children in specialized schools, merely because they themselves have studied in such schools. What is more, as illiteracy among adult Roma is also very common, it deprives Roma children from having a good example to on with their studies.

Roma minority are often accused of not valuing education, and some Roma activists admit that education is “not a high priority” among the general population (Cooper, 2001/2002). This is, however, also very influenced by the high institutional discrimination which Roma in Bulgaria face no matter if they are educated or not. What is more, the aim to attract Roma teachers and thus make children in segregated schools feel more comfortable to learn Bulgarian through their own language is almost impossible to achieve because there are very few educated persons among the Roma. The cultural practice of Roma to marry earlier while still in school is also a factor which influences the educational careers especially of Roma girls. In addition, in Roma families children’s labour is often needed to contribute to the family income which is another reason to break up with school for both boys and girls. The poverty among Roma and the lack of money to buy their children books, clothes and sometimes even bus tickets are also quite important reasons for the reluctance of Roma parents to educate their children. Another important aspect for the failure of Roma in education is the fact that the teachers in the segregated Roma schools are very often those who were sent by the government as a punishment for not doing their job properly or teachers who already retired and continue teaching just for extra income.

New Educational Policies for Roma, Their Implementation and Effectiveness

The previously-stated social ills of Bulgarian society and the inability of the country to effectively integrate its minority groups, namely Roma, are visible from any aspect in the life of Roma. Schooling, however, seems to be the most damaged and ineffective domain for the integration of the minority group. Although the issue of quality education for minority children currently continues to be an area of activism exclusively by NGOs, the state has also taken some measures in this sphere of key importance to integration (Cohen et al., 2005).

The first and the utmost priority in the educational policies for Roma was the full integration of these children through desegregation of schools. Hopefully, Bulgarian government finally realized that you cannot integrate through segregation and that separate by coercion means unequal. But despite the criticism from 1989 on, for the segregated schools in Bulgaria, nothing seems to have changed. As of 1998, there were around 100 of these schools in Bulgaria (Nunev, 1998:17; see Spirova, 2000). Today, the outlook of the education in Bulgaria is still the same.

After the inability of local authorities to close down segregated schools and to make a shift towards desegregation, the Ministry of Education recommended at least levelling the educational standards in segregated schools to those of the educational system. There is still not much progress in this either.

The second most important policy which was considered was the prevention of the common practice to send healthy Roma children to special schools. The results from these policies are still to be seen, despite the fact that those policies were implemented a few years ago. The main excuse for the Bulgarian government is lack of appropriated funds to carry these programs out.

At a minor level, there have been important changes, some of which mark a good start for the integration of Roma. The provision of free textbooks for Roma and free breakfast every morning before school already exist in the educational practices. Roma in desegregated schools once again benefit from going to school and hopefully their parents would once again see this development as a bargain for schools covering some of the needs of their children. There are also some NGOs which provide Roma families with clothes and shoes for their children – a problem occurring to many Roma families especially in the winter season. Next to such subsidies, some schools are now providing transportation to the secondary schools and are farther trying to take the parents’ burden of spending money on their children’s education. Another development is the practice of social workers and teachers who personally visit Roma families in which there are children who are about to start their schooling and persuade the parents to send their children to school when school year starts. Very often social worker try to make sure that the parents will do what they promised, so they visit the families a few times before school starts. Although this practice may seem somehow pushy and invading families’ personal space, it proves useful in most of the cases. Another aspect of positive change is the special training of teachers, qualified and re-qualified for working in mixed classes. Nowadays, many teachers are sent on different educational programs aiming mainly at the integration of Roma in the classroom. The inclusion of Roma teachers in the curricula is also a new approach to the integration of Roma. But as the number of teachers from Roma background is really small, those Roma who work in the educational system are mainly assisting the real professionals. Additionally, there are preparatory Bulgarian language classes for Roma children (a year earlier before starting school) in which Roma assistants are the leading educational forces who prepare the children for their first year at school. Roma participation has been the "core" of the project since its conception - Roma are involved in setting the agenda and goals, and they will be involved in the oversight and monitoring process over the next 10 years (Tanner, 2005). Additionally, the educational system for Roma includes bilingual pre-school books, special primers for bilingual children and teachers’ manuals on the language education of Roma children and so on and so forth. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria, the teaching of the Roma language and culture has been allowed since 1992, and in 1994, a special decree extended this right for children from the first through the eighth grade (Spirova, 2000). This change, however, seems to be bit inefficient and difficult to follow. By early 1997, only 500 students had expressed an interest in studying Romani and there were only 10 teachers qualified to do that (MFA, 1997:7; see Spirova, 2000). Apart from the fact that there are not enough Roma teachers who can teach Romani language, there is lack of interest from Roma parents to have their children study Romani. What is more, although the idea of a Romani alphabet is more than a century old, the first international Romani alphabet, or rather, a decision on how to use the alphabet in the various dialects, was adopted in 1990 (Liegeois, 1997:62; see Spirova, 2000). The dynamics of the various Roma dialects make the standardization of the Romani language virtually impossible (Liegeois, 1997:61; see Spirova, 2000). Only 37% of the Roma population in Europe speak Romani, the same holds true for the Roma in Bulgaria – only 50% speak Romani at home on a regular basis. In Bulgaria, Romani is defined as a “mother tongue” by the Constitution, and thus can be studied up to four hours per week as an elective course in schools (Marushiakova, et al., 1997:4; see Spirova, 2000). But with the inclusion of Romani in the curriculum and with studying Romani in school, some Roma children actually run the risk to study Bulgarian in a language which they are totally unaware of. In recent years, some elements of multicultural education in the field of music, literature and history have also been introduced. Today teachers receive special manuals from which they can also educate minority children on the subject of culture, customs and festivities of the Bulgarian macro- and micro-society. Such cultural classes aim at reinforcing Roma identity and instilling ethnic pride among Roma children. Another, maybe more important development for the education of Roma is the return of the night school for elderly Roma who want to become literate but did not use this opportunity when they had to.

Universities also did some changes in their curriculum with the hope that they can attract Roma people. For example, the American University in Bulgaria, sponsored by the Open Society Foundation, Sofia, which for several years funded approximately 30 Roma students to attend a one-year program at the university, where they studied English, computer skills and so forth (Max van der Stoel, 2000: 92; see Spirova 2000). The St. Kliment Ohridski Sofia University and the New Bulgarian University have established courses in Roma culture and folklore. Programs on Roma language and culture have been established in these universities with main goal to educate and train more Roma language school teachers. Additionally, as the freedom of the press in Bulgaria is relatively broad after 1989, there are many newspapers and magazines in Romani language. The problem with the printed press for Roma is that not all of the Roma who speak Romani can actually read in this language. What is more, not many Roma families can afford to buy such newspapers and magazines. The issue of minority broadcast media, which is maybe the more useful means of media for the Roma, is a grey area in the media legislation in Bulgaria (Nenkova, 2002). Although, the Turkish minority in Bulgaria managed to achieve news in Turkish language on national television, Roma are not that strongly represented in government and are far from achieving something similar. What is more, Roma lack support from their “mother country” on such minority issues.

To wrap up with, there are programs and policies which aim at the better integration of Roma in the educational system, but as you see the most important changes are dormant and the minor ones are not really well-considered for the disadvantages they carry.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this research paper showed that even today Roma in Bulgaria are discriminated against in all spheres of social life. At the same time, we can argue that the Bulgarian government throughout all these years did not really show interest in making better the conditions for Roma and did not combat their illiteracy and poverty so that they will cease being vulnerable to discrimination and prejudice. It is a fact that there are minor changes in the educational system which are for the benefit of Roma but these changes do not specially address the problem of Roma segregation. Poverty, unemployment, appalling living conditions, high crime rate, and maltreatment by the police and state authorities, illiteracy and school drop out rates are only some of the Roma’s problems (Nenkova, 2002). Today, even after Bulgaria acquired the long-awaited membership in the European Union and the Western World, it still has its Roma ghettos which resemble, or are maybe even worse, than the enclaves of the third world. The cycle of poverty, illiteracy and dependency in which the Roma are held, needs to be stopped, not only for the Roma but the entire Bulgarian society and European Community.

* the picture is taken from www.changemakers.net

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