Anyone who did not have internet access could not take part in school lessons during the Corona lockdown. This is what happened to Roma families in Slovakia. A student sued – with success.
When her school closed due to Corona, Amy Feriova was in first grade. She didn’t have the internet or electronic devices. She lives with her grandmother Veronika Duzdova in a Roma neighborhood in Jarovnice in northeast Slovakia. “If I hadn’t studied with her during Covid, she wouldn’t be able to do anything. I was scared, so I went to the Civil and Human Rights Advice Center. They got me what I needed,” says Duzdova.
The NGO also represented the student in court. Amy Feriova is now ten years old and has sued the Slovakian Ministry of Education. “The state assumed that the children had access to the Internet, that they had digital devices and basic digital skills,” says Amy’s lawyer Vanda Durbakova. “But that wasn’t the case with children from marginalized Roma communities. And the state didn’t take care of it.”
3,000 euros in damages
The district court in Presov ruled that the state had violated the principle of equal treatment. He also has to pay Amy 3,000 euros in damages, explains court spokeswoman Iveta Petrufova. There was indirect discrimination regarding Amy’s access to education. “Because of their social background, their financial situation and their ethical background. And that is because the state has not taken any effective countermeasures.”
The verdict is not yet legally binding. The Ministry of Education can still appeal. Nevertheless, it is the first court decision in Europe on the digital divide that many disadvantaged groups are confronted with, says the NGO Advice Center for Civil and Human Rights.
School management fears more Legal proceedings
Amy’s school acted as a witness. They only followed instructions from the ministry and they changed quite often, said deputy school director Jan Maslej. He has objections to the verdict. There are a lot of children from poor backgrounds at the school. Many have neither access to the Internet nor a notebook. “Now all other students can try to get such a sum from the state through litigation,” says Maslej. In addition, the student did not come to class even when it was possible according to the pandemic rules.
But Amy Feriova doesn’t want to accept that: “I didn’t go to school because it was Covid and my grandmother was afraid for me.” Amy is now in fifth grade. She has internet access and, thanks to an educational project, a tablet since this school year.
Marianne Allweiss, ARD Prague, tagesschau, December 5th, 2023 12:50 p.m