News

25.08.2017The Round Table in Asenovgrad and Jean-Paul Sartre

 

The News

National Round Table on Education and Employment Related to Ethnic Integration was held today in Asenovgrad. It was organized by the mayor of the town Dr. Emil Karaivanov and was honored by the Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the National Council on Ethnic Issues Valeri Simeonov and the Ombudsman of Bulgaria Maya Manolova, also mayors of municipalities, representatives of the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria and Ministry of Interior, as well as experts from the Ministry of Education and Science and other institutions. Education of minority groups and full scope of the school were addressed by Deputy Minister of Education Denitsa Sacheva and Mayor of Smyadovo Municipality and a member of the Managing Board of the National Association of Municipalities in Bulgaria Ivanka Petrova. In the Subtopic "Employment" opinions were presented by Rositsa Dimitrova, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policy and Donka Mihaylova, Mayor of Troyan Municipality and Deputy Chair of the Managing Board of the National Association of Municipalities in Bulgaria. Representatives of the protesters against the Roma from Asenovgrad were also participating to the meeting.

For the first time, institutions has made such a massive attempt to bring all children to school, said Deputy Minister of Education Denitsa Sacheva.1103 teams have already been created in the country, involving 11,600 people, who will be visiting all parents since September 1st. The teams include representatives of the Ministry of Education, teachers, police officers, social workers, mediators, specified Sacheva, clarifying the interinstitutional mechanism established by the Council of Ministers Decision 373 of 5 July 2017. There is no definitive data yet, but it is known that Approximately 21,000 school-age children dropped out of classes last year. The video surveillance system created for the matrices will also be used throughout the year to track attendance. Meetings will be held with representatives of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy to make changes to the social assistance reccommendations, with children's regular attendance being directly linked to aid. Moreover, teachers will be able to intervene and offer benefits when they see that the child has no shoes or lacks schoolbooks. Thus, the benefits will not be in money, but directly in what is necessary for the child to go to school. Parents who prevent their children from going to school will be punished by law as a criminal offense. The fees for kindergartens for five and six year olds will be reduced to a minimum, literally up to the cost of food. The idea is to be reduced to zero, but it's too early for that, said Sacheva.

Parallel to the round table, Interior Minister Valentin Radev opened a new police office in the Roma neighborhood Loznica, which was set up in urgent order in response to the protestors' demands. Three policemen will work there.

 

Non-news

One of the main postulates around which Jean-Paul Sartre builds his phenomenological ontology is the presence of Nothing. In human life there are not only things, but also No-things; Nothing can even be "seen," for example. "Pierre is not in the cafeteria."

The events from Asenovgrad today confirm the words written by Sartre. In fact, the things that were said in Assenovgrad today are accurate, but they are by no means innovative. It is clear that education is the first step towards integration, and full coverage in school and before that - in kindergarten must be achieved by all means. Making it a political priority from the current government is probably its most accurate strategic move. But this is not news from today.

The news, which are actually non-news, because there is nothing new about them, is related to the fact that Pierre was not at the events in Asenovgrad, and without him they will hardly make sense.

Pierre was not on the Round Table. Although the event was well thought out by the local government in Asenovgrad, the presence of the national institutions as well as the National Association of Municipalities was very impressive (here I exclude only the chairman of the long-meaningless National Council on Ethnic and Integration Issues V. Simeonov) the Roma were absent. There were no representatives of Roma organizations or informal leaders from the neighborhood. The only Roma in the room was Dr. Asen Kolev, but he did not have the opportunity to speak, to be heard. This apparent absence made the round table meaningless.

Pierre was not at the opening of the new police office as well. Certainly the vast majority of Roma residents of Loznitsa also welcome this acquisition. But it will be effective if police officers are Roma or speak the language of the community. In a neighborhood with Roma from the Millet group, non-Turkish speaking policemen would be useless as owner of a car without a driver's license - at best they could do NOTHING. You need the Roma police officers, not only in Asenovgrad, Minister Radev! This is a matter of efficiency. See the practice of your colleagues in the USA ...

Unfortunately, Pierre does not exist in inter-institutional teams that will ensure full coverage in school. Maybe he will be there as a side waiter, but the CMC 373 / 05.07 itself does not imply either the Roma organizations or the parental activists to participate as equal partners. Without the actual engagement of Roma and parental authorities, any effort will be "for one day", and inter-institutional teams will become founders of "gone abroad," as probably will be defined all children who cannot be returned to school.

In fact, Pierre's attraction to the café is a matter of efficiency - not only in Asenovgrad ...

 

Author: Deyan Kolev

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