News

Center Amalipe and Veliko Turnovo Municipality organized big children holiday “We can do more together” to celebrate the coming feasts Christmas and St Basil’s Day (the Roma New Year) as well as the successful end of the project “Introducing intercultural education and equal access to quality education in Veliko Turnovo Municipality” financed by Human Resources Development Operational Program. The holiday took place on December 11 in Municipality Hall. Students from 6 schools that implemented the main project activities took part in it – the schools in Vodoley, Balvan and Ledenik villages as well as three schools in Veliko Turnovo. With passion and bright spirit they presented fairytales, Bulgarian and Roma customs for Christmas and St. Basil’s Day, traditional and modern dances, songs of different peoples.  Hundreds of guests sang “Djelem, djelem” together with the students from “Vela Blagoeva” Gymnasium impressed by the fact that Bulgarian kids sing the Roma anthem. The massage of the students from Vodoley school who presented Bulgarian customs for Christmas and Roma customs for St. Basil’s Day touched the local politicians present: since the children could study the culture of different ethnoi and enjoy together the adults also could live together without problems… The participation of the Group of Grandmas from Balvan conveyed additional color in the holiday: they played together with the students of Balvan school and showed that the school could bridge generations. The presence of hundreds of parents from Vodoley and Ledenik broke the myth that Roma parents did not support the education of their children.
“The project of Amalipe and Veliko Turnovo Municipality made changes we dreamt from years: it stirred into action the educational process in the village schools, brought together Roma, Bulgarian and Turkish children, made their stay in school pleasant! – said Rumyana Iordanova, Director of Education Directorate of Veliko Turnovo Municipality – There was no one student who dropped out during the project implementation and this is a clear sign for its success!” Deyan Kolev, chairman of Center Amalipe added that the project activities would not stop with the end of he project but Amalipe would continue assisting the schools over Bulgaria in their efforts to introduce intercultural education and to integrate Roma children preserving their ethnic identity.