Roma in Dobruška Vas get new multi-purpose centre
Škocjan, 17 October - A new multi-purpose centre featuring a kindergarten was inaugurated in Dobruška Vas, a Roma village in the southeastern municipality of Škocjan, after the original centre was burnt down in March. The municipality decided to set up a new centre "primarily to help children", Mayor Jože Kapler said on Thursday.
Škocjan
Opening of a new multi-purpose centre featuring a kindergarten in the Roma village Dobruška Vas.
Photo: Aleš Kocjan/STA
Škocjan
Škocjan Mayor Jože Kapler at the opening of a new multi-purpose centre featuring a kindergarten in the Roma village Dobruška Vas.
Photo: Aleš Kocjan/STA
Škocjan
Opening of a new multi-purpose centre featuring a kindergarten in the Roma village Dobruška Vas.
Photo: Aleš Kocjan/STA
Škocjan
The coat of arms of Škocjan, one of the municipalities with a Roma population.
Photo: Nebojša Tejić/STA
File photo
The centre consists of three containers the municipality bought and repurposed, while it also provides water and electricity. A playground was set up next to it.
The project cost around EUR 70,000.
The mayor hopes the new centre will not fall prey to arsonists, as the arson incident in March had mainly harmed the Roma children but also others who used the centre daily.
"At first we hesitated to rebuild the centre, but in the end we decided that it was about the children and their socialisation," he said.
The centre is managed by the Centre for School and Extracurricular Activities, which provides a teacher and a Roma translator.
Kapler would also like the centre to get a permanent social worker to advise adult Romas on how to handle money, how to behave, etc.
He would also like to see a greater police presence in the area.
Some 30 to 40 children come to the kindergarten daily, of whom some already go to school, said teacher Marija Stojkovič.
"Children love coming to kindergarten. They also learn Slovenian, we help them with their homework and do various activities with them," she said.
Their aim is to help pre-school children to integrate more easily into a regular kindergarten.
The mayor said there are an estimated 350 Roma in Dobruška Vas, and around 30 children need kindergarten.