Amnesty International points the Slovak governement to serious gaps in the enforcement and monitoring of the ban on discrimination and segregation in the Slovak educational system.
The causes of segregation are complex and include entrenched anti-Roma attitudes as well as policy failures in the education system such as early and flawed child assessment and insufficient support for Romani children within mainstream education.
Widespread anti-Romani sentiment across the country expressed by non-Roma parents and educational professionals, has also led to segregation of Romani children even in mainstream schools and classes.
This has led to a situation in which Romani children are sometimes literally locked into separate classrooms, corridors or buildings to prevent them from mixing with non-Roma pupils.
"Romani children across Slovakia remain trapped in a school system that keeps failing them as a result of widespread discrimination. It deprives Romani children of equal opportunities and sentences them to a life of poverty and marginalization," said David Diaz-Jogeix, Amnesty International Europe and Central Asia Deputy Director.
"The Slovak government has much to do to end the segregation that has an impact on a large part of the country's population. Segregation in education means a life-long stigma for children whose future chances are brutally limited. It is a practice that does not belong to 21st century Europe and must be eliminated."
