For Roma in France, Education Is an Elusive Path to Integration
Slavi said that When I first started coming here, I didn’t really know what school was,
Pressed on the matter of evictions impairing the children’s ability to attend school, she replied
that "no one has the right to settle on land that does not belong to them." Alexandre Le Cleve, a legal expert who specializes in the rights of foreigners, said families and the state bore equal responsibility for ensuring a child’s education.
When Mr. Loret and his associates — a network of concerned citizens, political activists
and union members — began efforts to register children for school in the town of Champs-sur-Marne, the children were denied access.
" she said. that If all the school directors had registered the children in their district, without asking the mayor
for permission, saying ‘Excuse me, they are in my school district, I am taking them,’ we wouldn’t have this problem,
The following school year, Champs-sur-Marne required Roma children to pay roughly $13 a meal for access to the
school cafeteria, a price high above the $1.20 ordinarily charged to children from low-income families.
" she said. that Before we had housing, my sisters and I couldn’t attend school,
France said that I was only able to study when I had access to stable housing,
After escaping homelessness thanks to the support of a schoolteacher
and her parents’ tireless efforts to secure housing, she went on to finish high school and university before earning a law degree at the Sorbonne.
Loret said that The teachers told us they rediscovered a sense of purpose in their work,