In Roma (gypsy) areas, there is a crippling lack of preschool and kindergarten level schooling.
- In most villages, adequate programs are years away, which creates a critical problem when these children are evaluated for entrance into first-year primary education.
- They are under-prepared, ill-equipped, and thus labelled as slow or as special needs students.
- This creates a trap from which few of these kids ever emerge.
Launchpad has been created to empower parents by showing them how to teach their preschool age children the necessary educational and language skills for successful entry into school. Proper preparation paves the way for these kids to go from slow, stupid, and special needs, to being on the same level as their peers.
“A great amount of research has shown advantages of preschool education for later school career, especially for children growing up in families with a low socio-economic status.”*
The Short Version
Roma (gypsy) parents are coached by other Roma parents (trained by the Launchpad team) in simple, yet effective exercises that look like fun and games, but are designed to stimulate curiosity, logic skills, co-ordination, and much more. These activities focus on motor skills (needed for writing), reading skills, counting, colour recognition, shapes, music, and logic (puzzles), all delivered in fun and interesting ways. These methods have been proven in a number of socio-ethnic environments with success.
Simply put…the plan works.
How can you help?
Each family participating in Launchpad receives a “Toolbox”. It might look like a clear plastic container filled with stuff, but all that stuff is important. What kind of stuff you ask? Flash Cards for learning colours, shapes, numbers, and the alphabet. Music sticks (learning rhythm helps with mathematical thinking). Pencils, drawing paper, water paints, books, and more.
Each Toolbox costs $40.00. Our next “launch” is scheduled for March 2022.
Looking for more details? How it works:
- Launchpad provides a series of workshops, once a week, over the course of 7 weeks.
- Each workshop is 90 minutes long.
- Each workshop will be in Serbian.
- Parents and their children (3-6 years old) must attend together.
- Each lesson introduces the parents to a new, engaging activity.
- Parents and their children interact during each workshop and learn together.
- Each family will receive a “Tool Kit” (Flash Cards for learning colours, shapes, numbers, and the alphabet. Music sticks (learning rhythm helps with mathematical thinking). Pencils, drawing paper, water paints, books, and more.)
- There is no fee to attend the Launchpad workshops or for the tools supplied.
- Launchpad is a project of, and fully funded by, The Propel Initiative and Propel-Serbia.
In addition, a lending library is being created for parents to check out books. (Due to the lack of education in many Roma communities, it’s important to note parents are taught how to “read” with their children, even if the parent is illiterate.)
Results
We have successfully provided over 60+ Toolboxes and books to Roma families. We have trained over 35+ Roma parents and 2 coaches. These workshops are paving the way for the youngest members of Roma communities to be accepted and become successful in the primary school system.
We have successfully provided 10 full series of Launchpad workshops in the villages of Šangaj and Mali Beograd.
*Excerpts from: ROMA EDUCATION IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE. Roma Inclusion Working Papers UNDP Europe and the CIS Bratislava Regional Centre FINDINGS FROM THE UNDP/WORLD BANK/ EC REGIONAL ROMA SURVEY