CZECH GYPSIES LIKE SCHOOL

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 May 1937, Page 16

CZECH GYPSIES LIKE SCHOOL

SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENTS. " Experiments in gypsy education in Czechoslovakia are showing that this roaming people is not so unsuited as is generally supposed to a more regulated living. . ■ , , Ten years have passed since the local authorities decided that special care should be given to the education of neglected gypsy children of £ Uzhorod in .Ruthenia. ’ While' in the former kiiigdom of Bohemia. there is a high educational standard, in the eastern provinces of the Republic which had been under Hungary illiteracy has not yet been stamped out. Particularly the 37,000 gypsies in the most eastern pi ovince of Ruthenia have offered a difficult problem. Ten years back the inhabitants of the gypsy suburb of-the Ruthenian capital presented a petition to the authorities asking for. aj school to.be erected exclusively for gypsy children. When tit .was granted they helped in the building of their school. The first pupils, 35 gypsy children, were so eager that they came to the school on the first, day after the opening ceremony at 6 o’clock in the morning/ They were delighted with the spacious and warm classroom. It jvas'r clear, however, that their training presented a number of difficulties. Three-fourths of the pupils had nd underwear and all were very badly dressed. . Their ideal was a coloured shirt!

Beihfe used to an undisciplined life they were shy and fickle and sometimes very hard to manage. Some of them used to steal before they entered the school. They generally had a bad memory and disliked learning things “by heart.” " GAVE UP BEGGING. It was remarkable how soon they got used to cleanliness and to honesty. They gave up begging. The curriculum was adapted, to their needs and special talents. They liked particularly manual work and music.

Attendance is now on the whole very satisfactory except' during the picking season of strawberries and blueberries. Parents usually come on Sunday to inquire about the progress of their children. The ideals of the school seem to have influenced the whole neighbourhood. The gypsy suburb has greatly improved during the last decade. It is to the credit of the teachers that they have; kept in close contact with the gypsy community and that they take genuine interest in them. The Romany language is not discouraged at the school. On the contrary, Jhe teacher has to have a good knowledge of it and of its numerous dialects. He also collects gypsy songs and customs. At the same time he has to act as adviser both to the children and the grown-ups in every trouble. In recognition of his service the last teacher was awarded the title of a gypsy baron by the King of the gypsies. That education bears its fruits is shown by the case of an educated gypsy whose help enabled a lecturer of the Masaryk University at Brno, to provide a much needed translation of the Gospel into the Romany language.