In Europe

The Roma in Europe are a young population: their average age is 25 years, compared with 40 years for non-Roma; 37.5% of them are under-15, in comparison with 15.7% for non-Roma (Source: EU).
Roma minors who complete primary school: 42% of the total, compared with the European average of 97.5% (Source: EU).
Roma minors attending secondary school: 10% of the total (Source: EU).
In Eastern Europe, 64% of all Roma girls are enrolled in primary school compared with 96% of their non-Roma peers: these statistics reflect the Roma’s socioeconomic status (Source: UNICEF).
In Eastern Europe 50-80% of all Roma minors attend what are de facto “special schools” (Source: Council of Europe).

In the Czech Republic 30% of Roma children still attend schools for children with mild mental disabilities, compared with 2% of non-Roma children.
Many reports warn of discrimination against Roma and Sinti people, both in their access to education and in the schools they attend.
According to the European Commission, “Member States should ensure that all Roma children, whether settled or not, have access to quality education and are not subjected to discrimination or segregation.”

Further Reading

“Political and Legislative Framework for the Education of Roma Children. Reference Texts and Support Systems” – Council of Europe. (Quadro legislativo, Organizzazioni internazionali, analisi delle politiche degli Stati membri del Consiglio d’Europa)
“Measures to promote the situation of Roma EU citizens in the European Union” – 2011 - European Parliament
“Roma and Travelers in Public Education” – 2006 – European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC). (An overview of the situation in the EU Member States)
“The situation of Roma in 11 EU Member States. Survey results at a glance” – 2012 - European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)
Fényes C., McDonald C., Mészáros A. (a cura di), “The Roma Education Resource Book”, Open Society Institute – Institute for Educational Policy, Budapest, 1999.
Szalai J. (a cura di), “Contested Issues Of Social Inclusion Through Education In Multiethnic Communities Across Europe”, 2011
“Contested issues of social inclusion through education in multiethnic communities across Europe” – 2011 – Roma Education Fund (Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, United Kingdom).
Open Society Institute, 2009, “10 Goals for Improving Access to Education for Roma” – 2009 (Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia).
“Breaking the cycle of exclusion. Roma children in South East Europe” – 2007 - Unicef (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, FYR Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and Romania).
“Segregation of Roma children in Education. Addressing Structural Discrimination through the Race Equality Directive” – by Lilla Farkas – 2007 – European Commission.
“Denied a future? The right to education of Roma/Gypsy and Traveller children in Europe” – Save the Children, 2001, London.
“Roma in Public Education” – 2004 – Raxen (Germany).
“La non-scolarisation en France des enfants roms” – RomEurope, Fondation Abbé Pierre (France).

In Europe

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