"I'm here to learn to write. It'll help me find a job",

"I'm here to learn to write. It'll help me find a job", says 27-year old Assen Todorov, a student at the Second Chance School for adult Roma. " In my time I didn't go to school, my parents were divorced and there was no money for education", says Assen, one of many Roma, integrated in a national programme for professional training and qualification, run by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies.
"The programme is run jointly with the Institute for International Cooperation of the Association of People's Universities in Germany", says Mrs. Anna Delibasheva, head of the " Programmes and Measures" Department with the Employment Agency. It is targeted at illiterate Roma or ones with a low-literacy status, registered with the Agency.
Priority admission is available to those under 29 years of age. The programme is further open to illiterate or jobless adults from other ethic groups too, refugees acquiring Bulgarian citizen status included.
Some 700 000 euros was apportioned last year to fund the programme. Integration is on a voluntary basis, duration of schooling is up to 600 hours, coming up to roughly 5 months. The syllabus of instruction and teaching methods are authorized by the Ministry of Education and Science. Students are tested before getting a certificate.
"I believe the arrangement has been very positive", says Mrs. Delisbasheva. "Beneficiaries have so far approached the enterprise veryseriously and we've had no dropouts. For the Roma, as well as instruction, we organize employment markets in Roma resident neighbourhoods, providing direct contact with employers.
Let me make a point here- the employment markets are open to all Roma, not only to our students. Last year we organized such employment bourses in seven cities across the country", clarified Mrs. Delisbasheva. 64 employers attended the bourses, 2445 jobs were offered and 1995 Roma attended. 1481 Roma were eventually hired.
More often than not Roma would be taken on as general hands in construction development as well as in hygiene maintenance. Roma, who passed literacy instruction courses last year, can go on to enroll in professional qualification training in hair styling, the bakery business, public gardening, soldering, etc.
The Programme on professional qualification and educating adult Roma is part of the implementation of the" Decade of Roma inclusion 2005-2015". The programme also offers running own business training to the more enterprising and hard-working Roma. Progress on the implementation of the initiative" Decade of Roma inclusion" is accounted for before the European Union at regular intervals. Written by Diana Hristakieva Translated by Margarita Dikanarova