Basque Country: Roma schoolchildren boycotted
01 June 2000
On 25 May, when three Roma children registered at the San Juan Bosco religious school in Barakaldo, Bizkaia, the remaining 633 students failed to attend following protests from their parents. The boycott came after a secret ballot in which 438 parents voted against registering their children at the school, (29 voted in favour and 163 abstained). They claimed that the children "can cause physical and psychological problems to the other children". The boycott has been described as racist and elitist by the Movimiento asociativo gitano (a Gypsy association collective). The three children, who are 3, 7 and 8 years old, were walked to school by Jesus Gimenez of Iniciativa Gitana (Gypsy Initiative) under the supervision of the local police to avoid incidents.
The children's previous school, Ametcaga, in the district of Retuerto. was closed in the second half of the school year. It was criticised by Javier Lozano, a teacher and member of the STEEEILAS (a Basque teacher's union) who highlighted the hypocrisy of an educational system which states that it aims to achieve integration, while its organisation perpetuates social divisions, resulting in some institutions becoming ghettos. Ametzaga school had 13 students, all of whom were Roma, drawn from four families. When the school was shut down, allegations that students and their families were unruly and difficult to control arose, leading to their stigmatisation. They were redistributed to four schools; parents from the Zuazo school objected to their admission, leading to a request for local authorities to provide alternatives. From these their parents chose Barakaldo's religious school.
In response to the boycott, the Movimiento asociativo gitano wrote an open letter to the Spanish people and their institutions. They expressed the hope that their children may escape the cycle of poverty, marginalisation and rejection in which Gypsies are trapped through education. They said the episode was a symptom of "racism, intolerance, lack of
solidarity, cultural elitism, prejudice, misuse of force by a social majority, and manipulation of their sons and daughters" and an attempt to impose negative stereotypes on Gypsy children.
Alfonso Unceta, vice-councillor for Education in the Basque government, lamented that values such as tolerance, integration, cohabitation and solidarity had been trampled on. Following the intervention of the legal department concerned with minors (Fiscalia de Menores), the children were guaranteed schooling in Barakaldo.
Pagina Abierta June 2000; Hika no 111 (May) 2000; RomNews Network, 26.5.00.