CZECH TELEGRAPH

Gypsy Language to be Taught in Czech Schools

17. 3. 2010

The Czech Minister of Education Miroslava Kopicová wants white Czechs to be exposed to the Romany culture, history and even language. The effort to bring aspect of the lives of this discriminated minority closer to white Czech youngsters may help them feel less foreign towards the Gypsies that co-inhabit their land.

Conflicts between the two have been popping up from time to time, lately having been intensified by the visibility of the ultranationalist, now banned, Worker's Party (Dělnická strana - DS) and the devastating unemployment rates among the young. In search for someone to blame, many target the Gypsies, who have been conditioned by the communist regime to leave their nomad lives, while getting them dependent for generations on State money support. Many white Czechs resent that and the widespread criminality found within the Romany community (arguably caused not only by traditional culture, but also by being under long term poverty levels).

The project from the Ministry of Education expects to create a bridge between the two most prevalent cultures living together in Czech Republic. By simply having Romany language as one of the optional subjects in school helps legitimize Gypsies as a full nation with an important past and a well-developed language.

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