A total of 596 scholarships were awarded to Roma students enrolled from first to fourth grade in the academic year 2021/2022 within the project "REGULAR CLASS: Action for inclusion of Roma in primary education", funded by the European Union.
The project is implemented by the Foundation Open Society - Macedonia, together with the Association Center for Educational Support Dendo You and the Foundation for Educational and Cultural Initiatives Step by step.
"Roma students whose families are recipients of social assistance related to family income and who renew the scholarship awarded in the academic year 2020/2021 were entitled to scholarships. Scholars come from 73 primary schools in 31 municipalities, 51% are girls and 49% are boys. "Scholarships reduce the financial costs of Roma families related to the education of their children," reads the statement of the Open Society Foundation - Macedonia.
Scholarships are awarded for a period of one school year, in the amount of 400 euros per year, and their maintenance and renewal depends on the regularity of the children in classes. The scholarship is intended to cover the costs of children's education, food, clothing, school supplies and materials, sports and other equipment for children's extracurricular activities.
"During the first half of this school year, 47 primary schools, where scholarship holders of the project study, conducted extracurricular school activities, which through play and joint participation encouraged the interaction and exchange of knowledge between students and the integration of Roma students," the Foundation said. .
The schools received support from the project of 2,500 euros per school, which includes didactic materials, school supplies, sports equipment, school furniture, library material, equipment, materials for arranging schoolyards, as well as small adaptation works for arranging creative and pleasant school corners for learning and socializing of children, parents and teachers.
