Sisters Viera and Andrea Samková, two Roma women, have been seeking jobs as teachers or teacher assistants for four years but so far in vain, the Sme daily wrote on September 30. Their disadvantage, according to Sme, is that they are university graduates and some schools where they applied for jobs preferred to hire less qualified people in order to save money while other potential employers claimed that the sisters’ education was not sufficient.
Education Ministry State Secretary Jaroslav Ivančo (SDKÚ) said that his ministry has no authority, or only limited possibilities, to enter the selection process used by schools to hire employees. Nevertheless, the ministry officially stated it understands and supports the sisters.
A senior official of the ministry wrote a letter to Viera Samková last August stating that a special school erred when it did not give her a job. However, another senior official at the same ministry wrote to the Centre for Human Rights that he agreed with the procedures used by the director of the special school that failed to hire the women and wrote that Samková did not have the necessary education for the job. Based on that letter, the Centre for Human Rights decided not to pursue claims of discrimination against the woman.
MPs Miroslav Beblavý (SDKÚ) and Bibiana Ombrimčáková (Smer) made an inspection of the schools near Revúca where the sisters live. They said they found some flaws but said that due to the ambiguous law it is hard, if not impossible, to prove discrimination unless the officials publicly state it in written form.
Source: Sme daily
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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