Tim za socijalno uključivanje i smanjenje siromaštva

The European Commission awarded the “Educational Programme for Mother and Child” project financed by the Roma Education Fund (REF), opening toy libraries in five cities across Serbia (Kraljevo, Kragujevac, Novi Sad, Obrenovac and Kruševac). This is the first year the award is given, with 60 projects from seven states competing.

The explanation was that the project is achieving everything the Commission wanted to emphasize: increased visibility and inclusion of the Roma population in society.

Tatjana Obradović Tošić, the coordinator of the “Educational Programme for Mother and Child” project says that it encompasses three segments: improvement of parental practice, an alternative programme of early child development and the networking of Roma NGO. “As part of the first, we organize workshops for mothers of children aged up to seven years. We also organized literacy classes for women, and book clubs. Toy libraries and monitoring the enrolment of Roma children in preschool institutions and their subsequent retention in the education system is also one of our fields of work”, she explained.

All the toy libraries were opened in 2013, with the last one – the fifth – in the Novi Sad settlement of Veliki Rit, opened this year. The method of work is the same everywhere. A librarian and assistant work with the kids. The children learn through games, develop their motor skills, socialize, develop various skills; mothers, along with the children, rent toys, exchange experiences, and receive additional instruction on why education is important.

One mother from Kraljevo said: “Every day it was just obligations and problems. I didn’t have time for the kids. They played outside or in the house. I was just trying to clean up after them, feed them, dress them, wash them and put them to bed. Now I want them to do something, to have something to live off, to be somebody. It’s nice when I teach them something. We play, I teach them to name colours, we count… Now, sometimes I leave cleaning and say: ‘Never mind, I’ll do it later’, and play with them. They find it nice and I prefer to sit and play with them than to have them out on the street, getting into fights,” she explained.