Fundación Secretariado Gitano

Roma early school leaving puts social networks in a frenzy with #LeonorDejaLaEscuela (#LeonorDropsOutOfSchool) [editar]

• Education

This morning, Leonor dropping out of school was becoming a “matter of national importance” in the social networks.

The big surprise came when the journalist, Ana Pastor revealed the true identity of Leonor: a Roma girl living in Galicia and who, according to statistics, is very likely to leave school at a young age.

This discussion, which would not have had such an impact if it hadn't been for this “confusion”, has called attention to the need to raise society's awareness regarding the education of Roma students. According to the latest studies, 6.4 out of every 10 Spanish Roma students drop out of school before completing their compulsory secondary education. 

The discussion, initiated by the journalist Ana Pastor in Twitter has become trending topic, generating over 6 million impacts.

https://twitter.com/_anapastor_/status/656735739439390720
https://twitter.com/_anapastor_/status/656761896566136833

This initiative forms part of the Fundación Secretariado Gitano's (FSG) new awareness-raising campaign whose objective is to involve the entire society in the education of Roma children (teachers and schools, families, public institutions, etc.) and to put their school dropout rate, 39 percentage points above that of the total population, on the political agenda.

“Education is a fundamental right which is not guaranteed in Spain today for Roma children. Our society cannot remain indifferent to the fact that six out of every ten Roma children drop out of school. The public administrations must offer effective measures including the implementation of high-quality accompaniment programmes tailored to the needs of Roma students” explains Isidro Rodríguez, Director of the FSG, who stresses that “education is the only tool that we have to give to Roma youngsters so that they can break out of situations of exclusion and forge a brighter future where poverty is not handed down from one generation to the next”.

CONCERNING THE CAMPAIGNS RUN BY THE FUNDACIÓN SECRETARIADO GITANO

The Fundación Secretariado Gitano has used #LeonorDejaLaEscuela to round out a whole cycle of awareness-raising campaigns focusing on education dating back to 2010. That year it ran the campaign “When I grow up I want to be” designed to raise the awareness of Roma families as to the importance of education and underscore the idea that today it is essential to at least have the compulsory secondary education degree. 

In 2012 it launched the “Roma with an education, Roma with a future” campaign which focused on adolescents “wall-papering” their neighbourhoods and schools with pictures of themselves and their aspirations for the future. In 2013, “Fulfil your dreams” gave several young people all over Spain the experience of mentoring in large companies and in so doing linked studies with future employment. 

The FSG has also disseminated awareness-raising campaigns aimed at enhancing the social image of the Roma community such as “Yo no soy Trapacero” (I'm not a swindler), “Payo Today” (“Gadjo Today”) and “Get to know them before judging them”.

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