Pristina, on February 22, has been presented the thematic report "Scholarship Programs for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian students in upper secondary education in Kosovo". Participants in this presentation were representatives of civil society that help to improve the inclusion of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian students in education.
According to the Kosovo Education Strategic Plan 2017-2021 - Result 1.4 it is expected that through the scholarships to achieve the inclusion of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children in lower and upper secondary education with increase by 20%.

The Kosovo Education Strategic Plan 2017-2021 states that: In higher education, where the participation of these communities is very low, in addition to facilitating the census, consideration should be given to the possibility of providing scholarships for education. According to the Evaluation Report on the Implementation of the Strategy for the Inclusion of Roma and Ashkali Communities in the Kosovo Society in 2017, only 65% of children are included in the lower secondary education (one in five) of the lower secondary school age are completely out of school.

In the academic year 2017/18, the number of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian students in primary and lower secondary education is 5,693, which is an increase of 2.7% compared to the academic year 2016/17, when there were 5,542 children, of whom 1,276 were Roma, 3,398 Ashkali and 868 Egyptians.
While in upper secondary education, less than one third (30%) of the children of the respective age attend secondary education, while most (60%) are completely out of school.

In 2018, 785 Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian students in upper secondary education in Kosovo responded to the scholarship call published by MEST. Of the 785 Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian students in upper secondary education who applied, 600 of them were awarded scholarships and 185 were unsuccessful.
Of the 600 scholarship winners 313 were female and 287 were males, according to ethnicity 209 were Roma, 196 Egyptians and 195 Ashkali. Most scholarships are awarded to students living in Gjakova, Prizren, Ferizaj and Istog. Only these four municipalities account for 50.1% of the total allocated stock

The current scholarship program led by MEST and supported by KFOS, VoRAE, HEKS, REF is meeting the target set in KESP 2017-2021 for involving Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian students in upper secondary education. Each Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian scholarship student in upper secondary education gets 30 euros a month, 300 euros a year. The relevant actors report that this financial support for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian students in upper secondary education has had a decreasing impact on the drop in school drop-out.

Scholarship support for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian students in upper secondary education reaches the value of 180,000.00 euros per year. The MEST led and donor supported program has proven to be very effective. The program has started in 2014/2015 and is still active. The relevant actors and donors are in favor of such a program to continue in the years to come.