Hungarian discrimination against Roma people

Whereas almost half the Hungarian secondary school students enroll in vocational secondary schools or comprehensive grammar schools, which provide better chances, only one in five Roma children does so. Moreover, the drop-out rate in secondary schools is significant. [Equal access to quality education for Roma, Hungary, pp. 208-209]

The Roma people of Hungary (called "cigányok" or "romák" in Hungarian) suffer particular problems in Hungary, for example in the educational system. Only 61% of Hungarian Roma aged 15 and above has completed primary education, and just 13% has completed secondary education. [cite web
year = 2006
url = http://www.soros.org/initiatives/esp/articles_publications/publications/monitoring_20061218/monitoring_20061218.pdf
title = Monitoring Education for Roma. A Statistical Baseline for Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe.
publisher = Open Society Institute, Education Support Program (ESP)
language = English
accessdate = 2007-04-20] Currently, around 90% of Roma children complete primary education. A research of sample schools however suggests that the drop-out rate among Roma is still almost twice as high as among non-Roma. [cite web
year = 2007
url = http://www.eumap.org/topics/minority/reports/roma_education/report/national/hungary.pdf
title = Equal access to quality education for Roma, Hungary
pages = 206-207
publisher = Open Society Institute, EU Monitoring and Advocacy Program (EUMAP)
language = English
accessdate = 2007-04-20]

The share of Roma students entering secondary education has increased greatly, with the percentage of Roma children not pursuing any secondary education dropping from 49% to 15% between 1994 and 1999. But that increase is almost exclusively due to increased enrollment in the lowest levels of education, which provide only limited chances for employment.

Parody against Roma

Sándor Fábry's RTL Klub TV program "Esti Showder" one of the most popular talk shows on Hungarian commercial TV, broadcast a "Roma show" on November 6th, 2006 . The project was potentially very risky as it was only last spring that TV2 ran their highly controversial and damaging programme "Big Roma Wedding". The rival commercial channel TV2 had to apologize in March for its similar entertaining program ("Big Roma Wedding") where it had presented Roma men as criminals, thefts and the women as prostitutes. However, the ratings for the " Big Roma Wedding" were high, and the RTL Klub "Esti Showder" approached the Roma community directly. He invited some Roma entrepreneurs, musicians, and artists to the studio for the production and, thus, made the parody of quite a different colour. No sooner had the show had been aired, then the RTL Klub issued a broadcast that stated "the prominent Roma politicians had given their approval and appreciated that the show rectified the reputation of Roma community defamed by the TV2" in March. [ [http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=servis/z_en_2003_0077 Hungary: Yet Another Parody on Roma - www.romea.cz ] ]

Other examples

Cooperation between Roma and non-Roma is also taking place around the Opre Roma ("Rise Up, Roma") community in eastern Hungary. Roma residents in the area were to be evicted from their homes, but they have found unlikely support from local citizens and church members.

There are problems related to the Roma minority in Hungary, and the very subject is a heated and disputed topic.

Objective problems:
* Education/bad chances for work: slightly more than 80% of Roma children complete primary education, but only one third continue studies into the intermediate (secondary) level. This is far lower than the more than 90% proportion of children of non-Roma families who continue studies at an intermediate level. Less than 1% of Roma hold higher educational certificates.Fact|date=February 2007
* Poverty: most of the Roma people live in significantly worse conditions than others.Fact|date=February 2007
* Bad health conditions: life expectancy is about 10 years less compared to non-Romas
* Lack of debate regarding the subject: academic researchers and members of the mainstream press disregard any critics and study the subject in the canonical viewpoint. Critics don't have the funds necessary to perform alternative studies.

Please note that this list below consists disputed issues.
* Natural repugnance: there are differences is the social behavior of the host nation and the Roma people leading to a disinclination towards each other. This is slowly decaying on the Hungarian side (36-38% [ [http://www.gallup.hu/Gallup/release/eloitelet030919.htm] 'Az 1993-1995 közötti három évet jellemző 40-42 százalékos szintről a 2001-2003 közötti három éves időszakban 36-38 százalékra csökkent azok aránya, kik magikra nézve igaznak tartották azt a kijelentést, hogy "idegenkedem a cigányoktól"' (sic).] ); as of 2007, there is no research made regarding the Roma side.
* Integration problems on the host side: there's a significant prejudice towards Roma people in Hungary affecting the motivation for integration. Exact numbers are unknown as the research material available mixes prejudice with "post-judice".
* Integration problems on the Roma side: some Roma people have apparent trouble adjusting to the European standards of social behavior regarding loud-mouthing, littering and being non-violent, law-abiding and working citizens. As of 2007, there is no research available on this issue.
* Problems with motivation for work: as of 2007, what can be earned with work can be obtained having many children [Minimal monthly wage: 65,500 HUF [http://www.apeh.hu/minimalber] ("2007.01.01-jétől 65.500,-Ft"), monthly family allowance for a family of 5: 74,500 HUF [http://csaladinet.hu/kisokos/gyed-gyes/csaladi_potlek_havi_ellatas/] ("3 és több gyermekes család 14.900/hó/gyermek").] , which does not move Roma people towards work as they usually have more children anyway.
* Crime: "gipsy crime" ("cigánybűnözés" in Hungarian) is a phenomenon well disputed and often misunderstood. Although originally it refers to some crimes (eg. stealing of items made of copper, lynch, some robbery types, scuffle between families) often committed by Roma offenders, critics say it stigmatizes all Roma people. As a result (as of 2007), Hungarian authorities don't collect any data that could be used to study the issue, therefore no research is available regarding this topic. It's believed that there is a pattern in the crimes committed by Roma criminals and that the ratio of Roma inmates are much higher compared to non-Romas (around 70-80%), this is not an individual phenomenon since its common in other countries too [ [http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/funding/2004_2007/daphne/illustrative_cases/illustrative_cases_en/12_roma_en.pdf] , [http://www.rikosseuraamus.fi/uploads/9tydvr.pdf] (Finnish only)] .
* School segregation: likely due to repugnance, non-Roma people tend to choose schools with less problematic Roma children. It's also believed that there were cases where healthy Roma children were assigned to classes for pupils with learning disabilities (although this might have been a financial issue).

References