PROGRAMME HORIZON

INTERVIEW WITH MS. DONKA PANAYOTOVA WITH THE BULGARIAN NATIONAL RADIO – PROGRAMME HORIZON

November 1^st, 2021

I present to you the teacher from Vidin, Mrs. Donka Panayotova. Happy day of the National Enlightment Leaders, Mrs. Panayotova!

Happy day and allow me to extend a high esteem to all englightment leаders in our history! The fame of the nation's first enlightment leader deservedly bears Paisii Hilendarski with his "Slavonic Bulgarian History", which sounds too topical in our modern day. Today, we as parents must be our children's first enlightment leaders to have a future prosperous nation!

Are you satisfied with what you have achieved in the area of integration of Roma children at school?

Yes, I am happy with this achievement! Not only happy, but I am also proud that I was able to help solve an injustice. Who needs uneducated people, reproduced by the schools in the Roma neighborhoods of Bulgaria. I would like to remind you of the purpose of the Roma desegregation model. The aim of the desegregation process is to create appropriate conditions for Roma children to leave the segregated school environment and attend the schools outside the neighborhood, studying together with their Bulgarian peers in a tolerant school environment. It can definitely be said that during the transition period as a whole, the state ignored the issue of inclusive Roma education. And without a doubt Bulgaria had very good positions to succeed in this direction.

It was seen not in theory, but in practice the proven vitality of educational inclusion projects that were developed at the NGO level. In fact, they integrated around 20,000 Roma children in the course of a decade in Bulgaria. The Roma community illustrates that despite the problems, there are sufficient aspirations and sufficient capacity for inclusive education.

Are these Roma children continuing their education?

At present, there are about 300 young Roma university and college graduates. In fact, during the economic crisis between 2010 and 2015, hundreds of Roma families emigrated abroad to find a better opportunity in life. Тhey managed to enroll their children at schools abroad and later at universities and colleges. Roma children from our desegregation program graduated in Germany, France, Italy and Spain. These are the concrete results, which is an indicator that Roma wish to study and education is a value in the Roma community.