Dr. Ambedkar School

Educating Igor

2015.11.03. Categorized: Front Page   

As a Roma from Slovakia, Igor believes that education may be the only hope for changing the future of his community.

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Igor and his siblings grew up in a Roma settlement in eastern Slovakia.

They have faced racism, discrimination and even violence that targets ‘gypsies’.

After experiencing an assault by local police and with support of his older sister Irma, Igor decides to return to school.

He is committed to getting a proper education so that he can join Irma as an accredited teacher working with the young children in his impoverished settlement.

Educating Igor gives an insight into the isolated, impoverished world of Slovakia’s Roma community. Often excluded and derided as “gypsies” this is the story of Igor and his sister, Irma and their efforts to use education to change the future for the children in their community.

FILMMAKER’S VIEW

By Sylvia Stevens

From the moment we entered the Roma settlement of Budulovska in Slovakia, our perceptions were challenged. There are 800 Roma there with one main water tap for the majority of the inhabitants. They have to make daily trips to fill up big water bottles. Their access to electricity is limited. And when we first arrived, there was no standardised rubbish collection. Most in the community are unemployed, though a few do contract work.

At first glance it was a grim picture with lack of amenities, discrimination and a history of victimisation with which the world is all too familiar.

Then we met Igor and Irma and this is where the story truly began. They did not see themselves as victims. This was their home, their community. And as they showed us around and talked, they projected not just their reality but also their hope for a better future. This is where our film began.

Igor and his sister are determined to use education to change the future for the children in their community

We knew Igor’s story from reporting by a local journalist, Ben Cunningham who often covers the issues facing Roma in Eastern Europe. However, our team wanted to know what really made him decide to give up substance abuse and seek to finish his education.

In 2013, Igor was beaten up by the police and arrested. Was this really the only catalyst?

As we dug deeper we began to see the strong family ties and support within the settlement. We met Irma, his older sister, who had managed to get an education and move out of the settlement. While she lives outside in a flat three kilometres away, her life is still very much in the community.

Every day she walks to the community centre and brings her skills and knowledge back as she runs classes for children preparing them for outside the settlement. We saw the support that Irma gives Igor, her other siblings and people in the community.

When we were there in early May, the dirt road was riddled with puddles of rainwater that the children played in. When we returned in June, the road had been paved and the rubbish removed by the new mayor and his administration. Irma said it had taken 20 years to bring this change. And even though the drains were not working yet, she knew they had achieved victory.

Irma’s determined support for Igor to build a new life was equally impressive. He has found the strength to travel two hours each week to Hungary to study for his high school degree and be in a class with 15-year-olds. The transformation in his life enables others in the community to change as well. The fact that Igor still sleeps with five other relatives in a bed and rarely has water to clean his clothes, is still the reality but one he wants to change.

Educating Igor gives an insight into a changing community despite the odds and obstacles.

Igor and Irma are improving not only their own lives but also their community, especially the next generation. They are proud of their Roma history and heritage and want their community to be empowered to make their own future.

As Igor said, nothing will stop him now and I believe him.

Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/witness/2015/11/roma-slovakia-educating-igor-151101102925385.html

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Our School 1st Part

Our School (1st Part)
Our school is named after Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (April 14, 1891-December 6, 1956) an Indian jurist, scholar and political leader. Born into a poor, dalit (untouchable) family and subjected to intense socio-economic discrimination, Ambedkar spent his life fighting against the Indian caste system and the idea of untouchability. We see his message being relevant for gypsies in our country today.

Our School 2nd Part

Our School (2nd Part)
Our school is serving in a region of northern Hungary where the proportion of high school graduates having matriculation examination is under 1%. At the gypsy settlements of Sajokaza, Lak, Alsovadasz, Homrogd there are thousands of people without the chance of secondary education. We believe, that the application of proper pedagogy will result in the elevation of above mentioned ratio similar to any other group of today's society, and our students so become competitive participants of the labour market.

Our School 3rd Part

Our School (3rd Part)
Our school offers person centered pedagogy, informatics, English language and sciences. By activating dormant energies of unused manpower we bring high grade secondary education to the poorest communities of our homeland.

Our School 4th Part

Our School (4th Part)
The objective of our school is to show the way out of poverty and make environmental stimuli enjoyable for everybody. We knowingly have encouraged our children to make friends with students of other schools years before founding the school. Our task is to transmit the essence of better life standards of more prosperous social strata to our students and their families. It is especially important in health issues, for we do not study to die early as the poor of the villages.

Our School 5th Part

Our School (5th Part)
Even though the school is situated in segregated environment, our efforts are to integrate. The goal is to bring high standard education to a totally unprovided area. The want should be satisfied. The effects of this service then attract non-Romany inhabitants, and lead to building valuable relationships around the segregated community. We believe in the possibility of dark spots on the map today to become bright stars tomorrow.

Our School 6th Part

Our School (6th Part)
We emphasize the values of Romany lifestyle. Even though the life is changing in Alsovadasz, Sajokaza, Lak, Homrogd and the other villages, people are going to have large families with lots of cousins, uncles and aunts for a few more decades. However nice and precious it is, the public opinion of the rest of the county might be different. One of the pedagogic tasks of the school is to provide students with well based confidence to commit to their own chosen lifestyle.

Our School 7th Part

Our School (7th Part)
The aim that our students want to achieve is high school graduation. Trade is offered only to those who want it along with graduation. Even for people fell out of primary education but wanting to learn we make understand that the goal is not just completing primary school but to change their social stand.

All of the Parts in One

Our School

  • Professor Shanker Dutt: Congratulations on the good work you are doing. The English language is an instrument of empowerment and liberation to access knowledge and technology
  • Hemant aka Nirvan Shinde: Dear Friends of Dr. Ambedkar School, I am highly pleased to congratulate you, for this historic step against segregation. you the Children of Dr. Amb
  • Pardeep S Attri: This is really great to hear all this activities going on!
  • Dhammadeep: jai bhim dear asok, you are really doing a great job i wish u all the very best
  • DHAMMADEEP DEOGADE: Dear Asok, Jai Bhim… UR Doing Great Work.. ..I’ve Photograph Collaction of Dr.Ambedker. It’s a  Orkut Link..do Get it…  http://www.orkut.c

Table of contents

Contact

    Headmaster: Tibor Derdak

    Address:
    H-3720 Sajókaza, Rákóczi F. u. 29.

    Headquarters:
    H-3532 Miskolc, Tátra utca 2.

    Further field of activity places:
    H-3600 Ózd, Petőfi út 18-20.
    H-3659 Sáta, Kolozsvári út 5.

    Telephone/Fax:
    (+36) 48-788-700

    International Bank Account Number:
    IBAN HU59 1203 7805 0033 7608 0010 0002
    SWIFT Code: UBRTHUHB (Raiffeisen Bank)

Motto

Right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. (Buddha)

Illustrious Day

We wish a Happy Nameday to all visitors called József!

Memorial Schedule

24 September: Pune Pact between Gandhi and Dr. Ambedkar in 1932

14 October: Conversion in Nagpur of Dr. Ambedkar and his Dalit followers in 1956: “Dhammadiksha” or “Dhamma Chakra Pravartan Din”

28 November: The Day of Orientalists (Körösi Csoma Sándor started his mysterious Eastern journey in 1819.)

5 November - 14 December: The Lőrinc family in Sajógalgóc gave shelter to four Jewish youngsters who had escaped labour camp.

19 January: Martin Luther King Day

11 February: The Day of Freedom in Religion: In 1676 the dutch admiral Michael de Ruyter freed the Hungarian galley slave praechers: e.g. Túróczi Végh András from Fülek, Kálnai Péter from Putnok, Szalóczi Mihály from Zubogy

14 April: Birthday of Dr. Ambedkar

2 May: Birthday of the Buddha

2 August: The Day of Gypsies’ Holocaust in 1944

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