Children file lawsuit against Blagoevgrad mayor for segregation

2003 news

2002 news

Three Romani children aged 8, 9, and 10 filed a lawsuit against the mayor of Blagoevgrad Lazar Prichkapov and the chairman of the Municipal Council Radoslav Taskov, claiming they had been segregated.

The children, who are students in the Kiril and Methodius School, allege that predominantly Roma students study at the school, while the foreign language comprehensive school, which shares the same building, is Bulgarian.

The children claim they are forced to live in a segregated environment. They allege that after completing their 7th grade education at the Kiril and Methodius School, the Bulgarian students will enroll in the foreign language school, leaving only Roma students in their school. According to the director of the Education Department at the municipality, the lawsuit contains some contradictions, because in this case two schools are being united and the Bulgarian and Roma children will study together. She further claims that some 30 percent of the school's students are Roma and they attend programmes for minority integration.

The problem will be discussed at one of the next sessions of the municipal council in Blagoevgrad.

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