The Centre for Roma Studies
Open letter
In attention of Ministry of Education and Research
National Council for Curriculum
Article 12, line 1 of the Framework Convention for the Protection of Minorities signed and ratified by the Romanian State acknowledged right of citizens to „study culture, history, language and religion of those belonging to the national minorities as well as of those belonging to the majority population”.
Recommendation no.4/ 2002 of the Committee of Ministers from Council of Europe for member States requested in the annex referred to the Program and teaching material for the Roma children education, as follows: „the curricula and the teaching material should be created in such way that it should take into consideration the cultural identity of Roma children. The Romani culture and history should be introduced in the teaching material in order to reflect the cultural identity of the Roma children”.
Historical documents, studies and national researches regarding the Roma history, points out the existence of this ethnicity in Romania for more than 600 years. During this period especially marked by two major phases- the Roma slavery and the Holocaust- Roma took part to the social, cultural, economic and political history of Romania. These two historical phases are relevant for the education of all Romanian citizens no matter of their ethnic origin.
Considering the above mentioned realities and the European context (The Decade for Roma Inclusion during 2005-2015) we stand for the right of Roma children and nonRoma children from the Romanian educational system to study their own cultural history as well as the other’s history to a high level standard of interculturalism and multiculturalism.
Therefore, we would like to request to the Ministry of Education and Research and the National Council for Curriculum, to:
1. Revise and complete the compulsory school curricula and the Romanian history manuals trough introducing information about Roma.
2. Continuous training in the spirit of promoting interculturality within the Romanian educational system.
The Centre for Roma Studies of the Faculty of History from Bucharest University affirms its support at public and academic level for the joint efforts of the Ministry of Education and Research and of the National Council for Curriculum to complete the present curricula, especially now since the revised process of studying programs is about to start for classes V-VIII.
Petre Florin Manole
Centre for Roma Studies
Mister Manole,
I do agree fully with concerning the Roma.
Your request is more than legitim and well founded.
But don’t you think that you might be fighting against windmills?
Let’s see:
1. Revise and complete the compulsory school curricula and the Romanian history manuals trough introducing informations about Roma.
2. Continuous training in the spirit of promoting interculturality within the Romanian educational system.
To revise the complete compulsory school curricula and the Romanian history manuals…
This implies to revise all of it.
It implies a complete mea culpa for what has been done to the Roma.
This implies to recognize that the romanian history manuals have been falsified, forged and manipulated.
This implies to recognize, implicite, that a certain rasism and discrimination have been practiced since a loooong time…
This implies that the jewish question and Antonescu’s figure have to be revised as well…
This implies that a part of the historical and cultural identity of the romanian people is a forgery…
This implies that the concept of NEAM have to be revised as well. Don’t forget the Social Concordate wich have been signed between the state and the Orthodox Church, in wich the very meaning of Neam specifies (I don’t have the text in front of me, it’s at home and I am at the office…) The very notion of NEAM is bound to the Orthodox Church and belief, to the old romanian nation, ethnicly pure…
This is not clearly written, but it is evident for the carefull reader.
The modern notion of nation is based on nationality.
Period.
There is a long way to go…
Continuous training in the spirit of promoting inter-cultural relationships within the Romanian educational system.
There is no better way. Everything is in the education.
But the promotion have to take place at several levels as well.
The media, the social life, professional life, and so on.
On the other hand, the Roma have to do the same and seek to integrate better.
There is a lot of educational work to do as well.
Is a certain part of the establishement ready to recognized the mistakes of the past and to REFIND the history and the mentality?
Who is ready to recognize that a part of history is a forgery?
Please, dear reader, don’t get mad at me…
History is manipulated everywhere.
I am aware of it.
But now we talk just about Romania, isn’t it?
Cu respect si stima,
Alain Godon.