Macedonia's Young Scientists Look to the Future
Eliza is good at math. She’s also good at science. So good in fact, that the 16-year-old was selected to travel from her native Macedonia to the International Conference for Young Scientists in Stuttgart, Germany recently.
“Can you believe it? “gushes Eliza. “I can’t describe how I felt when I found out that I would be a member of one of the 22 teams of young scientists from 15 different countries around the world.”
What makes this accomplishment particularly special is that Eliza is one of about 250 Roma students receiving scholarships and school-based mentoring in 57 high schools across Macedonia.
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| Eliza (on left) with fellow student scientists in Germany |
“Many Roma students would not be able to go to secondary school were it not for these scholarships. And, even if we did manage to go, we would not be as successful as we are without the assistance of our mentors,” says Eliza.
Scholarships and mentoring are key elements of the secondary education component of the Roma Education Program (REP) financed by a consortium of donors including USAID, the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia, and several others.
The program is designed to keep Roma students in school and to help them improve their performance and attendance. It’s a seamless program, providing support for students from pre-school to University. At the secondary school level, textbooks, supplementary learning materials, transportation, food, clothing and more are provided as needed. Best of all, students are provided one-on-one mentoring on a daily basis.
At this writing, there were 247 Roma secondary school scholarship recipients, over 200 pre-school, 600 primary and 60 Roma university students benefiting from the program.
While it’s quite early in the program to see results, 94 per cent of all Roma secondary school freshmen successfully completed the school year last year.
For Eliza, the mentoring has been crucial. Her mentor, Suzana Trajkova, has worked hard to boost Eliza’s self confidence and bring out her natural abilities in math and science.
“Her self-esteem has really improved. I’ve noticed a real change for the better in the way she communicates with her teachers and her peers,” says Trajkova, beaming with pride. “And Eliza is very lucky to have parents who are her strongest supporters when it comes to her current and further education.”
Eliza is equally positive about her mentor. “I feel safe knowing there’s always someone in the school who I can turn to, who advises and encourages me. I share all my ups and downs with her. She’s always there for me.”
“Thanks to her, I found out that I’m really good at math—not to mention other subjects,” adds Eliza, demonstrating her newfound self confidence.
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