Why March 21?
March 21 is designated by the United Nations (UN) as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It's a day observed all around the world to focus attention on the problems of racism and the need to promote racial harmony.
The UN made this designation in 1966 to mark a tragic event that took place on March 21, 1960 in Sharpeville, South Africa when 69 peaceful demonstrators were killed during a protest against apartheid.
A Resource for Children
http://www.unicef.org/voy/explore/sowc07/explore_3333.html
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Equal Access
Integrated Education for Romani Children in Bulgaria
http://www.witness.org/index.php?option=com_rightsalert&Itemid=178&task=view&alert_id=51
Background: At an estimated 10 million people, Roma are the largest, yet most discriminated-against minority in Europe. In Bulgaria, 70 percent of young Roma, (approximately 30,000 children), attend sub-standard schools in segregated Romani neighborhoods. In November 2003, Dimitrina Petrova, then Executive Director of the European Roma Rights Center, described one of the schools:
"The Romani ghetto school was a cold, dirty, and horrible place. The classrooms were extremely run down, with the paint on the walls, floors, ceilings, and windows looking as if it had been exposed to both the deterioration of time and vandalism for at least a decade. The desks and the blackboards were a parody of furniture, all broken and decaying. The only sink, in the corridor of the first floor, had only ice-cold water. The toilets were clogged and overflowing."
Inadequate material conditions and the poor quality of education provided by unmotivated teachers contribute to low attendance rates of Roma pupils. Altogether, they alienate Romani children from schools and perpetuate the cycle of illiteracy, unemployment, and poverty.
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