The queen gave Ian Hancock the title of Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his work studying Romani culture and its people, whom many incorrectly call Gypsies.

In the forward to Ian Hancock‘s 2010 book, “Danger! Educated Gypsy,” his editor described Hancock as an “unusual man.” Now, the professor emeritus in English and linguistics at the University of Texas at Austin has accepted an award that further sets him apart from the average scholar: in December, Queen Elizabeth II of Britain made him an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

Hancock says he started his academic career studying Creole languages, but he shifted toward teaching Romani studies once he became tenured at UT.

“Romani is the proper word for a population known, incorrectly, as Gypsies,” Hancock says.
Hancock, who is Romani, says his students misunderstood what “Gypsy” meant at first.
“Several of the students who showed up [to his first Romani studies class] were barefooted and had beads and earrings and the works, long dresses,” Hancock says. “When they found out that it was a much more serious course than that, I lost a number of students.”

Part of that misunderstanding, he says, came from the many negative stereotypes about Romani people. They’re often thought to exist on the fringes of society, and are associated with fortune-telling and baby-stealing, Hancock says. Even some of his colleagues initially resisted his efforts to study Romani people as an official, distinct culture.
“If we as a population cannot be taken seriously, then the problems that we face can’t be taken seriously,” Hancock says.

Link: http://www.texasstandard.org/stories/ut-romani-scholar-honored-by-britains-queen-elizabeth-ii/

Only 2.1 per cent of Roma children are involved in pre-school education in the Republic of Northern Macedonia, but this figure will increase.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy has refreshed the system, because all the reforms that we implement are mostly related to the poor citizens. "The Republic of Northern Macedonia has only 30% of children enrolled in pre-school education, which means a smaller number of Roma children included than 2 , 1 percent.

The positive effects that have been given so far by the implemented projects and the systematisation of some of them in state-funded public policies are the greatest proof that the achievements of Roma students are not lagging behind compared to other non-Roma students when they are provided with the necessary conditions and favorable opportunities for education.

According to him, the new strategy of the Roma Educational Fund, 2021-2030, is based on three strategic goals, ie good results from the learning and transition in the labor market and the public.