Reducing Prejudice through Multicultural Education in Albania

Abstract

In Albania, the Roma people face very difficult living conditions and frequent discrimination situations especially as related to their access to schools. The legal framework in effect guarantees the right to education regardless of race, even though this community faces various barriers and problems in enjoying this de facto right. There are a large number of cases when the Roma children drop out of school before the age of consent. Prejudice can be performed in a silent manner or verbally. It can lead to discrimination. Multicultural discrimination goes through a wide variety of activities and beliefs related to encouraging and performing democratic values, such as: social justice, equality, tolerance, prejudice reduction and diversity evaluation. This education system can produce the necessary knowledge to fight against social injustice. This is a qualitative study based on the research question: How could school improve its role in providing a more encouraging and positive environment to certain groups of students that suffer from social prejudice, inequality and discrimination? The research techniques are: Theoretical analysis of the phenomena, monitoring, interviews, and focus groups from some schools in Tirana. The study provides direct opinions of teachers, parents and directors on the impact that prejudice in the school environment has on education. The study provides data proving that prejudice reduction through multicultural education is followed by an increase of school attendance from children belonging to the Roma community.