Student Day with children from Konik Camps [Vijesti]

The Volunteer Club of the students of the Faculty of Philosophy in Niksic marked the Student Day - 4 April, in the camps Konik I and Konik II.  Together with fifth graders from six schools that are in the process of desegregation, voulnteers organized the preparation of materials for the celebration of the International Roma Day which will be celebrated on April 7 2015 in cultural centre "Budo Tomovic" in Podgorica.

"We made six boards with topics of art, through which the students of the Roma population, together with student volunteers, will present the most important segments of the specific art to visitors. They will also contain information on the most famous Roma representatives in all the arts. The student volunteers will thus contribute to promotion of Roma arts and culture and to better visibility of volunteerism at the University of Montenegro", said Marko Dragas, coordinator of student volunteer practice from the Roma Education Fund (REF).

REF is one of the organization implementing the project "Assistance Programme for Integration and the return of RAE and other I/DPs living in Konik - Phase II" in Montenegro. The aim of the project is to provide assistance in the education of children living in camps Konik I and Konik II.

"Working with these children is not easy but it still makes us happy because our efforts lead to the results in the end. Children come to the workshop and absorbe knowledge and skills, participate in group work and help each other. I volunteer at the elementary school "Bozidar Podgoričanin" as well as in the REF premises in camp Konik I. Our work is not only useful for us students, but we are also helping the teachers and of course children and in this way we are working on our education and enhance academic achievement of the children", said the volunteers of the Faculty of Philosophy who participate in the project.

Roma Education Fund (REF) was established as part of the Decade of Roma Inclusion during 2005. Its mission and ultimate goal is to reduce the differences in outcome between the education of Roma and non-Roma population. To achieve this goal, REF supports policies and programs that provide quality education for Roma, including the desegregation of educational systems.

The program "Support for integration and voluntary return of internally displaced residents of the Konik camp in Montenegro - Phase II" is being implemented with the support of the EU Delegation to Montenegro and the Government of Montenegro and in partnership with the German organization HELP. REF implements the educational program in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Institute of Education and the Centre for Vocational Education.

Source: http://www.vijesti.me/vijesti/dan-studenata-obiljezili-radom-sa-djecom-u-kampovima-na-koniku-827333