In Slovakia, a high number of Romany children are inappropriately placed in "special schools" for children with mental disabilities, where they receive a poorer education and have very limited chances of finding a job or receiving further education. Independent studies show that up to 80 per cent of the children placed in special schools in Slovakia are Romanies. This was reported today by Amnesty International. "Pavlovce nad Uhom states the humanitarian agency is a town in Western Slovakia, 10 kilometres from the border with Ukraine. Over 50% of its 4,500 citizens are Romanies. There are two primary schools in town: a normal one and a special one for children with mental disabilities. About two thirds of the Romany children who attend primary school in Pavlovce nad Uhom have actually been segregated in the special school. 99.5 per cent of the about 200 pupils in the special school are Romanies". Officially, explains Amnesty International, "children can be placed in special schools if they have received a formal diagnosis of mental disability and only with their parents’ full consent". However, "many children in Pavlovce nad Uhom have not been examined and, if they have, such examination has been seriously defective. At the same time, in most cases the parents’ consent was neither free nor informed".
