Nowadays, the most evident discriminatory policy Roma people are dealing with in Italy is definitely related to their housing conditions, which have been described in a previous article. The relegation of Roma communities in terms of accommodation causes the majority of them to be still living in formal and informal settlements in the outskirts of urban areas. Unfortunately, however, discriminatory policies are rarely confined to a single topic, and this is especially true for Roma: indeed, poor housing conditions are likely to generate a spillover effect that affects other areas as well. If we shift the focus specifically on children, they are probably mostly affected in terms of access to high-quality education and integration in schools. 

Between the 1950s and 1980s, Italy had implemented a program of special classes for Roma children, called Lacio Drom, in which pupils could attend lectures on core subjects, like history, geography, science, and maths and Italian language. Unfortunately, after being running for around 25 years, the program was shut down because of its poor results, which were due to persisting prejudice against Roma, teachers’ unpreparedness in terms of Romani culture and language, and the sudden moving of families from a settlement to the other which would sometimes prevent children from attending classes. Moreover, many Roma adults who were enrolled in Lacio Drom classes have kept painful memories of their school years, because they mainly felt treated and addressed like ignorant savages who had to receive proper education.

After the closure of Lacio Drom classes, Italy did not develop any similar, ad-hoc project to ensure the right of education for Roma children, but rather it encouraged the participation of Roma pupils to “normal” classes. However, this approach is still not as efficient as it could be in increasing both the general level of literacy of Roma children, and the average number of school years attended by children. As a matter of fact, in Italy the mandatory school age goes from 6 to 16 years old, but the (few) available data show that the number of Roma pupils in schools decreases sharply if we compare their attendance levels in primary schools, secondary schools, and high-schools. More specifically, more than 50% of Roma children are enrolled in primary schools (age 6 to 11), but only 20-30% of them proceed to secondary school (age 11 to 14), and just 1% attend high-school programs (age 14 to 19). Yet, it must be noted that collecting information on school attendance for Roma students is particularly challenging for various reasons: their marginalization, but also the longstanding malpractices in categorizing relevant data (such as, for example, only focusing on “nomad students”, which included those children living in settlements, and completely neglected those who were in conditions of social invisibility), and the persistent lack of disaggregated data (namely data that has been broken down by more detailed sub-categories) which doesn’t allow for more precise analyses on inequalities.

For all these reasons, and because school is widely recognized as the prime environment for socialization and integration between Roma and non-Roma children, the National Strategy for Equality, Inclusivity, and Participation of Roma and Sinti 2021-2030 (Strategia Nazionale di uguaglianza, inclusione e partecipazione di Rom e Sinti 2021-2030) devotes a whole chapter to creating the ideal conditions for Roma children in schools. However, it must be kept in mind that the difficulties in retrieving data on Roma attendance in schools also affect this programmatic document, which draws upon outdated information collected for the Academic Year 2014/15. The enforcement of stricter rules about privacy partially explains this lack of high-quality data, but the scarce interest from authorities towards Roma communities is also part of the problem. 

As of today, the integration of Roma children in schools and their likelihood to access proper education is often left in the hands of local authorities or even to the good will of single school deans or teachers who stepped up and managed to build strong, trust-based relationships with Roma families, and showed respect for Romani culture rather than reinforcing anti-gypsist biases. Hence, the new National Strategy adopts a national approach to education, by identifying targets that should be met across the whole of Italy. The first step concerns conducting a full-fledged research on the level of inclusion of Roma children in Italian schools, with a focus on already-existing good practices that may be implemented in other parts of the country, as well as on education for Roma girls, who tend to leave school earlier than their male peers. Other crucial points of the Strategy include a thorough analysis of the existing bureaucratic procedures that may slow down school enrollment because of their cumbersome nature, but also a proactive fight to discriminatory behaviors in schools. Additionally, the Strategy addresses the problem of school textbooks that often neglect or overlook Roma traditions and history, and aims to replace them with others that provide a positive, or at least neuter, outlook on Roma communities.

Notwithstanding this, it is obviously clear that many of these issues cannot be solved without addressing two crucial topics: housing and parental support. For what concerns the housing status of Roma people in Italy, they are often settled at the very borders of cities, which can discourage active school participation. Additionally, poor or even absent internet connection as well as lack of electronic devices such as computers or tablets can make school attendance even harder for Roma children. A good example of this can be found by looking at how schools at all levels and universities dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic, namely by moving all classes, tests, and activities online. Naturally, all those Roma children who did not own any laptop or similar items couldn’t follow any class, and this caused a sharp increase in dropout rates between 2020 and 2022, when Italy was in the middle of the pandemic. 

Parental support is also quite relevant for all children, because they must be encouraged, and sometimes even urged, to attend classes. In many cases, without such gentle pushes from parents, children would probably prefer to spend their time playing or sleeping rather than doing their homework or going to school in the morning, and it’s their parents’ responsibility to make sure that their participation in school activities is consistent and fruitful. In general, this is not a huge problem, given that parents have gone through school themselves, and have learnt in first-person the importance of studying and receiving proper education. However, when it comes to Roma children, the issue may become quite sensitive, because not all Roma parents have had access to school classes, or - as it has been mentioned before - some of them may even have bad memories from their scholastic experience. Therefore, they may not be as enthusiastic or serious about their children’s school attendance, and often leave them free to decide if they are going to school that day or not. Correlatively, the fact that many adults did not go to school or receive the right support and education from the school system, hampers them from helping their children in dealing with homework and all other daily questions that may arise concerning that part of a child’s life. For these reasons, the National Strategy also contained a specific section proposing interventions to reinforce the relationship between schools and families. This goal may be achieved in several, different ways, also according to the specific problems and needs of every child and family. Some examples may include continued talks between teachers and parents; extra school hours in which teachers can help students in dealing with their homework; arranging a computer lab where children can access technological devices, and learn how to use them, under the supervision of teachers, etc.

In conclusion, this focus on education for Roma children portrays a system with many lights and shadows: on one hand, the decision by Italian authorities to plan a more practical and in-depth strategy is remarkable, especially considering that the country is not unfamiliar with school programs for Roma students. On the other, however, any improvement in this area cannot happen by leaving all the other problems out of consideration, as it has been shown by the interconnection between higher-quality education, housing rights, and parental support. Small steps are needed in every direction, but they can only achieve meaningful goals if authorities and activists keep in mind the bigger picture: to ensure better living standards to all Roma, in all possible ways.