BRATISLAVA, Feb 7 (AFP) - Slovakia began putting words into action Monday by increasing funding for the integration of its gypsy minority into society, following a commitment by central and Eastern European countries to ease the plight of the continent's biggest and poorest minority.
The government announced a 50 per cent increase to 600 million korunas (15.8 million euros) in funding for progammes to improve living conditions of gypsies, or Roma.
Much of the money will go towards education, with the Slovakian goverment official for Roma affairs, Klara Orgovanova, announcing plans to improve low attendance rates of gypsy children at infant, primary and secondary schools.
A recent UN development programme survey found that only 20 percent of Roma finish primary school in Slovakia.
Orgnovanova said many gypsy children were taught in special schools for pupils with learning difficulties. The government aimed to reduce this to 15 percent by 2015 and increase by 50 percent the numbers who completed secondary school.
A further 200 million korunas (5.3 million euros) will be spent on building apartments and infrastructure in gypsy villages, the government said.
Slovakia has a large and growing gypsy minority, which has increased over the last 15 years from 250,000 to about 400,000 or seven percent of the Slovakian population.
In a declaration signed last week by five heads of government and three deputy prime ministers, Bulgaria, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia-Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic promised to work to ease the plight of gypsies over the next 10 years.
Gypsies make up roughly two percent of the 450 million people who live in the 25-nation European Union. About five million live in the 10 mainly central and eastern European states, including Slovakia, which joined the EU last year.
02/07/2005 17:21 GMT - AFP