The question number 1 in front of primary school graduates is: Which high school to enroll in? Young graduates from the Roma-Egyptian (RE) population were in looking for a response to this dilemma, assisted by Help’s mediator Dejvid Sejdović, who organized a two-day visit to high schools in Podgorica, during which future high school students will be introduced to specific programs offered for further education in the Capital city of Podgorica.
Visits to the high schools began with 23 RE students at the “Sergije Stanić” School for Secondary and Higher Vocational Education, where, as school representatives told us, already are schooling RE high school students in each of the programs. Some of them are so successful that they recently participated in an international competition in Greece for high schools.
A group of students expressed a desire to meet their successful fellow RE students and share their experience with them, soon as possible.
School “Sergije Stanić” offers professional education in the area of various service hospitality and tourism industries. Representatives of the school, PR and pedagogue presented to future potential students all the educational modules they have, as well as which doors they are offered for work or continuing their education after completing three or four years of high school.
The children had the opportunity to ask questions and seek for answers, as well as to visit some of the classrooms where classes, practices and internships are conducted, which is of the great importance in this school.
Project coordinator Diana Andjelić, emphasized that the initiative is very important, especially because, when it comes to students from the RE population, drop out of enrollment in high school is still one of the key problems when it comes to education.
Apart from Help’s mediators, Sejdović, as well as Erdi Beriša and Nedžmedin Šalja, in the school visit were also the representatives of Help, as well as the head of the Roma office in the Capital Podgorica, Hristana Laban.
The Capital Podgorica, along with the municipalities of Ulcinj and Berane, is a partner with Help in the implementation of the project “Social inclusion of Roma men and women and Egyptians with the mediation of associates for inclusion” which is implemented in 11 municipalities (Bar, Berane, Bijelo Polje, Budva, Cetinje, Herceg Novi, Niksic, Pljevlja, Podgorica, Tivat and Ulcinj). The project is funded under the European Union and Montenegro Program for Employment, Education and Social Welfare.
A total of 34 Help Mediators have been working in local institutions since October 2021, for a period of 12 months: 13 in the field of social protection, 11 in the field of employment and 10 in the field of health care.
The goal is:the State, through institutions / services at the local level, to recognize the importance of the institute of Roma mediator / associate for social inclusion and include it in the systematization of jobs at the local level, which will solve this issue for the benefit of RE inclusion in the country broader society.
The visits to the high schools is just one of many activities, which mediators organize every day, in addition to regular obligations and responsibilities in the institutions at the local level, as a support of the RE community and its more efficient inclusion.
After the visit to the high school “Sergije Stanić”, the students and the mediators continued their tour of the high schools of medicine, mechanical engineering, construction, chemistry and electrical engineering. A group of students who will visit the school’s tomorrow will also visit the high school of economics in Podgorica.
