THE MINISTRY of Education, Science, Research and Sport has announced the first round of a call for projects to improve education in marginalised Roma communities within the Operational Programme Education. The ministry’s agency for EU structural funds will allocate €17 million to the programme.
Applications can be submitted from all regions across Slovakia except Bratislava. The aim of the programme is to increase employment and educational levels in marginalised Roma communities and improve living conditions in them. The new call is linked to a pilot call for applications for assistance announced by the Office of the Government’s Plenipotentiary for Roma Communities. Local governments and non-governmental organisations are eligible to apply for the subsidy, the SITA newswire wrote.
As part of the programme, projects of local governments and NGOs can be focused on improving access by Roma to education at all levels or funds can be obtained for an individual approach and development of alternative forms of education.
The minimum subsidy for one project is €100,000 and the maximum is €500,000. Eligible applicants can apply for financial assistance until November 15. The Education Ministry is providing more information about the call through a website: www.asfeu.sk.
