For the past six years, we have been working closely with our local partner organisation, the Centre for Interactive Pedagogy in Serbia, to specifically prevent and reduce the segregation of Roma children.
At the heart of our work lies collaboration between segregated schools and neighbouring schools. At the same time, we are committed to shaping national and local policy frameworks in such a way that all children can start school in a fair and inclusive manner. The project specifically aims to improve the quality of education and provide individual support for children in segregated schools.
What do we do?
In 2025, we continued our work to support disadvantaged children. A key element of this was providing remedial tuition for particularly vulnerable pupils at six segregated schools in Prokuplje, Požarevac, Šabac, Vršac, Batajnica and Smederevo.
A total of 12 tutors regularly supported 138 girls and 134 boys with their studies. In weekly workshops, they helped the children with their homework, learning strategies and exam preparation. Creative workshops, cultural events and exploring their own identities further boosted their self-confidence, motivation and social skills.
What do we achieve?
As a result of the individual support, the teaching staff observed an improvement in the children’s communication skills, stronger reading and numeracy skills, better academic performance, more meaningful social interaction, as well as greater self-esteem and more self-confidence in the classroom.
‘Through targeted learning support, active participation and a greater focus on children’s needs, the project helps to bring about lasting improvements in educational and developmental opportunities for particularly disadvantaged pupils.’
At the same time, the project strengthened child-centred school development. Staff from 19 schools received training and mentoring on topics such as social-emotional learning, inclusive education, intercultural exchange and working with parents, so that schools could better respond to the children’s needs.
Children’s participation was also strengthened: in workshops organised by the pupil councils, 218 pupils developed ideas for improving their schools, discussed their learning environment and planned initiatives such as creative workshops or project-based learning.
The programme is supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), part of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA).
