Roma Children: Victims of Social Injustices in Education

Abstract

In this qualitative study aiming to identify the opinions of postgraduate students studying in Izmir, Turkey about the schooling practices of Roma children from social justice perspective, case study design was used. The study group included 46 post graduate students. As result of the study, it was identified that most of the participants agreed that the Roma children have limited access to schooling for such reasons as economics, Roma culture and the family structure, exclusion practices towards them, lack of social state and learned desperateness and made some suggestions accordingly. It can be argued that the disadvantaged status of Roma children and the inequities they exposed to manifest themselves as economic, cultural and thus participative injustices in education. Accordingly, improving the socio-economic conditions of Roma families thus children, valuing the culture of Roma and including Roma families and children in the education system were recommended.