Research, 2021
The Impact of Post-COVID-19 on Roma Families in Albania
How the pandemic deepened the economic and educational exclusion of the families of Roma Versitas Albania students.
Key findings
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26%
of students’ families had both parents in work; in 60%, only one parent worked.
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45%
rated their family’s economic situation as poor, and 8 people as very poor.
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5
of 74 respondents rated their economic situation as good.
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60%
of Roma students face barriers to education from poverty and discrimination, according to the Institute of Romani Culture in Albania.
Abstract
A year into the pandemic, Roma Versitas Albania surveyed its secondary and university students and alumni, and drew on studies by the Institute of Romani Culture in Albania and Walk in My Shoes. The assessment describes how COVID-19 worsened the families’ economic situation, their access to social services and their children’s access to online learning.
Method
A survey of 74 Roma Versitas Albania secondary and tertiary students in December 2020 and January 2021, with secondary sources from national Roma organisations.
Online learning left Roma children behind
Many Roma children in primary and secondary school did not access online classes regularly, or at all. Without devices, connection or digital skills, families could not use online services. A study by Walk in My Shoes with 80 Roma families found that the economic situation, the lack of technology and missing online classes were the main reasons children failed the semester.
Work disappeared
Most families depend on informal, insecure work that cannot be done from home. Parents lost jobs, and the chances of informal work fell, so the families’ economic and social position got worse still.
Discrimination got worse
Fear of stigma and lack of information already kept many Roma from social services. The Council of Europe’s anti-racism body ECRI notes that hate speech against Roma comes even from service providers. During the pandemic, discrimination in access to work and services was amplified.