Eight Roma students enrolled in faculties, 115 finished secondary school
- Details
- Tuesday, 29 September 2020 13:45
NGO Young Roma, which implements regional project Increasing access and participation of Roma students in secondary education and transition to labour market, finished the second year of implementation of the activities foreseen by the project. This project is funded by the European Union through the Roma Education Fund.
In the second year of implementation, the project included all high school students from the Roma populations in Montenegro – total of 120 students in the 2019/2020 school year.
All students had mentoring support during the school year in order to attend classes more regularly and improve school success. Out of the total number of beneficiaries, 115 finished the grade and passed into the next one, out of which 41 students finished high school.
Following the school success of students during the previous and school year 2019/2020, it was concluded that for 72 students (number of the same beneficiaries during both school years) school success has been improved by 8%, while school dropout decreased (in school year 2019/2020 five students left school).
As classes have been held online since the second semester of the school year, the project also provided learning equipment (tablets with internet) for all students who were involved in this type of learning in that period, so 40 tablets were provided from project funds through Roma Education Fund and European Union, and 75 devices through the U.S. Embassy in Montenegro. In that way, access to learning and further education was enabled, because most of the beneficiaries were without the necessary equipment for learning.
In addition, final grade students were trained at the Labor Office in Podgorica on the soft skills which are necessary for finding employment after graduating from high school, and had the opportunity to inform themselves about the tips for writing a CV, rules of dress and behavior at the job interview.
The project involved 20 secondary schools in nine municipalities in Montenegro.
The project team of NGO Young Roma started visiting schools from the beginning of the school year, but due to their closure and complications which occurred with the epidemiological situation caused by the Covid 19 virus, conversations and info sessions with students and mentors continued online.
Also, within the component of employment of high school graduates, consultations were conducted with various employers in order to mediate in employment. The situation during this year was significantly different by changes in the way of working caused by the virus, so in such limited circumstances, we managed to provide employment on the basis of employment contracts for two high school graduates, whose earnings were funded jointly by NGO Young Roma and employer. In addition, 16 students, with the support of the school or our organization, found a employment on their own and thus entered the labor market immediately after graduating from high school.
In addition, this school year, eight Roma students enrolled at the faculty, which is a significant improvement compared to the previous year, when there were no students from Roma population enrolled at the Universities of Montenegro.
NGO Young Roma from the school year 2020/2021 continues with project activities to support high school students of the RE population and enters the third year of implementation of this project, which will last until on June 30, 2021.
