International Literacy Day: Access to education for all
08/09/2021 #internationalliteracyday: The cycle of poverty can only be broken if children are given the necessary tools for a self-determined life.
Autumn is also the start of school. After a year and a half of pandemic, teachers, parents and children hope for a resumption of regular school activities. For the children and young people cared for by CONCORDIA in day care centres, the school closures have been dramatic. They are children from families living in extreme poverty. Without internet access, they spent the lockdowns in close quarters with their relatives. Distance learning is not an option for them. The danger that they will lose touch is great. It is all the more important that the doors of the CONCORDIA day care centres are open for them. CONCORDIA staff members were and are often the only contact persons and provide support with necessary food and digital learning. In the CONCORDIA countries of Romania, Bulgaria, the Republic of Moldova and Kosovo, children from the most disadvantaged population group, the Roma, are particularly affected.
Around 10 -12 million Europeans belong to the Roma, the largest ethnic minority in Europe. For centuries they have been marginalised and persecuted. One reason why many live in extreme poverty today. For a long time, they were denied access to education, which is why the proportion of illiterate Roma and Romnja is high.
Discrimination against Roma and Romnja in everyday life are still widespread.
No child must be left behind
CONCORDIA responds to this historically grown inequality on many levels. One focus is on educational projects as well as a socially inclusive primary school, vocational school in Ploiesti/Romania, and day care centres where children receive a protected space and professional learning support in addition to basic needs such as a hot meal. These are children whose parents cannot read or write. They are among the poorest.
Support services to which they are entitled are often not taken up. The cycle of poverty can only be broken if children are given the necessary tools for a self-determined life. School education, being able to read and write, means access to knowledge and participation in society. It means being able to help your own children with their homework. No child should be denied this access. The basic prerequisite for this is that all schools remain open this autumn.