Indicator history

The NGOs Romeurope estimates that “between 5,000 and 7,000 Roma children being in France today will reach their 16^th birthday without having ever or so attended school”.

The shortage of places on halting sites and the refusal of some families to park on those sites inevitably lead to illegal halting on “unauthorized” sites and incessant evictions, which hinder any possibility of enrolling Travellers' children in schools.

The expulsion of Roma families from their living places, their precarious situation, living conditions that are not compatible with the completion of homework and the fear of deportation or arrest on the way to school, prevent the schooling of children and lead to the fragmentation of educational experience.  

The shortage of places on halting sites and the refusal of some families to park on those sites inevitably lead to illegal halting on “unauthorized” sites and incessant evictions, which hinder any possibility of enrolling Travellers' children in schools.

On 12 September 2012 three circulars relating to the education of newly arrived children and children of homeless families and travellers were published by the Ministry of Education. The first text "aims to encourage regular attendance at school to improve the education of pupils from homeless families and travellers" [1]. The second refers to the obligation for municipalities to cater for children in schools [2]. The third circular "aims to define the missions and organisation of Casnav" (academic centers for the education of newcomers and Travellers’ children created in 2002) [3]. The new circulars not only recall the right to education for children and the continuity of schooling, they also provide the creation of "national education referents” in education authority districts and departments to report cases of non-schooling or non-enrollment.

Sources:

1.  Ministry of National Education, 12.09.2012, Circulaire relative à l’organisation de la scolarité des élèves allophones nouvellement arrives (Circular on the organization of schooling of newly arrived allophone students), http://francaislangueseconde.awardspace.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/2012a-nouvelle-circulaire.pdf, Accessed on 19.12.2012
2.  Ministry of National Education, 12.09.2012, Circulaire relative à la scolarisation et scolarité des enfants issus de familles itinérantes et de voyageurs (Circular on the education and schooling of children from migrant and Travellers’ families), http://www.education.gouv.fr/pid25535/bulletin_officiel.html?cid_bo=61529, Accessed on 19.12.2012
3. Ministry of National Education, 12.09.2012, Circulaire relative à l’Organisation des Casnav (Circular on CASNAV organization), http://www.education.gouv.fr/pid25535/bulletin_officiel.html?cid_bo=61527, Accessed on 19.12.2012