Undervaluation of education by parents

Children from families living in shanty Gypsy villages of Eastern European countries are very often the problematic ones at schools. Coming form a very different environment than most of their schoolmates they tend to form a separate group in their collectives. They do not have a chance to discuss their new knowledge at home. In general they are not supported in gaining that knowledge and going to school at all, due to the traditional fear that the children would part with the Gypsy life if they excelled at a gadjo school. The children also sense they lost the freedom they had in the Gypsy settlement and that they are manipulated by people who are considered as untrustworthy by their parents. They are therefore regarded differently by the other pupils, who also have prejudices against Gypsies that they learned from their gadjo parents. Many Gypsy children, not having attended the kindergarten (which is not compulsory and not for free), can speak only the language they picked up in their settlements, that is Romany mixed with the local language (Slovak, Romanian, Czech, etc.). Some Gypsy children are leaving for the school often without breakfast, because mothers still sleep or do not care. Hungry, tired, often without proper clothing, with problems, they have no interest to participate in the education process.