Discrimination of Roma children in Czech schools
/D.H. and others v the Czech Republic (Application No 57325/00)
Briefed on 6 September 2019
Power point presentation by OSF Prague and the Office of the Public Defender of Rights (6/9/2019)
Rule 9.2 by OSF Prague, Forum for Human Rights and Amnesty International (August 2019)In 2007, the European Court of Human Rights decided that there was a systemic discrimination of Roma children in the Czech Republic. The Grand Chamber ruled that 18 Roma children had been sent to special schools and taught a reduced educational programme.
In December 2018, the Ministry of Education proposed changes to the Decree on Education of Pupils with Special Educational Needs. In her presentation, Ms Bazalová, from the Office of the Public Defender of Rights, underlined that, should they be adopted, these changes would be problematic, as they would lead to:
1. The decrease of the maximum number of pedagogical staff per classroom
2. The establishment of special schools for pupils with various kinds of disabilities
In his presentation, Mr Drahokoupil, from OSF Prague, outlined how reforms since the judgment had had a negligible effect on the numbers of Roma children being sent to special schools. In their recommendations, Mr Drahokoupil and Ms Bazalová therefore called on to the Committee of Ministers to monitor the implementation of the D. H. case until there is a drop in proportion of Roma educated in reduced programmes by 2,88 percent points in 5 consecutive years, starting by the school year 2018/2019.