The Anti-Segregation Roundtable established this spring held a meeting on Thursday at the initiative of Minister of Human Resources Zoltán Balog. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Human Resources and educational experts from the civil sector, and in the interest of a constructive dialogue, new members were invited to join the roundtable.
The Ministry was represented at the meeting by Minister of State for Social Inclusion Zoltán Kovács, who co-chaired the meeting with (Mrs) Marekné, Aranka Pintér, President of the Klebelsberg Institution Maintenance Centre.
From among the permanent members of the roundtable, the meeting was attended by Judit Berki, head of the Bátonyterenye Alternative Learning Facility, Tibor Derdák, Principal of the Dr. Ámbédkar School, István Antal, the head of the Jesuit Roma Specialisation College, Ferenc Orosz, President of the Raoul Wallenberg Association, József Hofher, Jesuit monk and Nóra L. Ritók, head of the Igazgyöngy Foundation. The members newly invited to join the work of the roundtable, Géza Takács, editor-in-chief of the teachers’ periodical Új Pedagógiai Szemle, (Mrs) Kovácsné, Dr Emese Nagy, Principal of the Hejőkeresztúr School and Miklós Vecsei, Vice-President of the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service, contributed to the initiative launched against segregation in education with new ideas and approaches.
After the first meetings dedicated to the clarification of basic terminology, attendees this time discussed specific proposals which they prepared on the basis of their first-hand, on-the-job experiences.
The purpose of the Anti-Segregation Roundtable is to seek solutions that may be used in practice to eliminate segregated education that regenerates disadvantages over and over again. Both experts and policy-makers agree that quality education is unattainable in segregation. Quality education is the only way out for young people with multiple disadvantages, including the Roma, for preventing the regeneration of poverty and hopelessness.
The next meeting of the Anti-Segregation Roundtable will be held in January 2014.
(State Secretariat for Social Inclusion)
