The Advocacy Network for Systematic and Permanent Solutions for Roma Integration sends a public reaction on the occasion of the publication of the Official Digital Dictionary of the Macedonian Language for the use of offensive words against Roma.

We publicly ask the Institute for Macedonian Language "Krste Misirkov" to immediately remove all abusive words that insult the Roma.

All this happened when the Government of RSM promoted the web platform www.makedonski.gov.mk - digital version of the Interpretive Dictionary of the Macedonian language.

The Digital Interpretive Dictionary contains 100,000 words including Gypsy, Gypsy, Gypsy, Gypsy and Gypsy!

This new or digitized dictionary repeats the same mistake of existing dictionaries that need to be reformed.

Following the reactions on social media and the reaction of several Roma organizations, the RSM government responded appropriately to these criticisms and announced that these words would be removed from the dictionary.

The Institute for Macedonian Language understands the reactions of the Roma community and informs that the words will be removed from the "Interpretive Dictionary of the Macedonian Language".

The government welcomes the proactivity of the community.

The primary school “Malina Popivanova” in Kocani is the leader of the activities of two projects which aim to stop the early abandonment of primary education of Roma children, as well as for sustainable development of the students. The projects are realized within the frames of the Erazmus + program, they are of international character, and partner schools from Croatia, Bulgaria and Greece are also included, as well as the nongovernmental organizations such as “Avena” from Kocani and “Eco Logic” from Skopje.

- The project “Establishing a system for following the early abandonment of primary education from Roma children” will be realized in two parts, from which one will be the preparation of study materials for classes, and the second one will be the preparation of an online platform with already finished problematic and their solution. The goal is to prevent the early abandonment of the education from the Roma students. The platform will be prepared by psychologists and pedagogues, and the preparation of the study materials, will include teachers from ours and the partner schools from Greece and Bulgaria.

The second project defines 17 goals for sustainable student development, and the study materials and the online platform will be prepared by our teachers and these will be used in the partner schools from Croatia and Bulgaria, said Sanja Mihailova, the project coordinator.