One hundred young Roma participated in the 9th National Meeting of Promociona Students of Fundación Secretariado Gitano [editar]

• Promociona is an educational support and guidance programme aimed at Roma students and their families. Its objective is for Roma students to successfully complete their basic studies, obtain the Compulsory Secondary Education Graduate Certificate, and gain access to post-compulsory studies.

• The lack of expectations for Roma students, educational segregation, the invisibility of successful educational references, the absence of the history and culture of the Roma people in textbooks and the digital divide they face are some of the difficulties that are reducing and shortening the educational pathways of Roma children.

Education is a fundamental right that is still not sufficiently guaranteed for Roma students, with a gap that begins to open up before the start of compulsory secondary education. The data show a clear situation of inequality, since, according to the study by Fundación Secretariado Gitano, The educational situation of Roma students in Spain, 2023, 40% of Roma students leave school at the age of 16 and the school failure rate (young people between 16 and 24 who do not graduate from compulsory secondary education) is still much higher, at 62.8% compared to 4% of the general population.

Promociona: a model that works

For the last fifteen years, Fundación Secretariado Gitano has been working with its education programme Promociona, a methodological proposal to advance towards the educational success of Roma students. Promociona demonstrates that, with adapted educational actions, the data can be reversed. In the academic year 2023-2024, 85.7% of students in the last year of compulsory secondary education participating in the programme have graduated and 90% continue with post-compulsory studies.

From 26 to 28 September, Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) held its 9^th National Meeting of Roma Students in Madrid, bringing together almost a hundred young Roma from 38 cities throughout Spain, together with the educational guidance team. These are students that participate in the Promociona programme.

The celebration of the National Meeting is an action of the Promociona programme, to open a space for exchange, reflection and meeting between students who have to face barriers and make a greater effort to achieve better educational results. Promociona also includes priority actions such as individual educational guidance for students and families, Promociona Classrooms (group school support and reinforcement), and actions for the digital training of students, as well as mentoring actions with companies, to complement the intervention. All of this is coordinated with the educational centres as an essential part of the programme.

Meetings of Roma students to boost educational success

This is the first time that most of the students travelled without their families to a participation space to share experiences with other young Roma from different localities. In addition, they also met with the group of Ambassadors for Education, made up of young Roma role models who are already in post-compulsory education.

The main theme of the meeting was STEAM skills, focusing on the arts, through the visibility of Roma people who are leaders in this field. Theatre was used as an educational resource with the aim of reinforcing the self-esteem of the young people, improving their communication and developing their creativity with the arts, especially the performing arts, as a medium. In addition, and taking into account that in 2025 the 600^th anniversary of the arrival of the Roma people in Spain will be celebrated, the students have reviewed the history of the Roma throughout all these years. A history marked by persecution and the lack of Roma references in different spheres of public life.