A Critical Reading of Official Data on School Segregation Affecting Roma Children in Romania

Abstract

This article examines school segregation affecting Roma children in Romania through a county-level comparison between demographic data and recently published administrative monitoring data. It combines the share of the Roma population in each county, based on the 2021 Population and Housing Census, with segregation alert rates reported in the Ministry of Education’s 2024-2025 monitoring exercise. Two indicators are analysed separately: segregation alerts at school-structure level and at class level. The results show a positive relationship between Roma population share and segregation alerts in both cases, stronger at class level than at school-structure level. At the same time, demographic composition alone does not explain the territorial distribution of segregation. Several counties report substantially higher or lower levels than would be expected based on Roma population share alone. The article argues that these differences reflect not only demography, but also variation in implementation, reporting practices, and local institutional context, while also acknowledging important data limitations.