Macedonia's policy with regards to improvement of status of Roma, especially their involvement in the education process, is successful and already yields results. The number of children attending pre-school institutions has increased, along with those in elementary and secondary education, but also Roma enrolling at faculties, said Government officials at Monday's press conference within regional meeting "Early Childhood Development and Quality Education for Roma", in the framework of Macedonian Presidency with the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015.

"There is enormous progress regarding education of Roma. Other regional countries and beyond can undertake our positive experiences in the area of early childhood development. We are committed to involving Roma at a pre-school age in kindergartens, thus learning the Macedonian language", said Minister without Portfolio Nezdet Mustafa.

According to him, Macedonia is the only country giving good results in the inclusion of Roma in secondary education, achieved through the scholarships provided for children from socially-vulnerable families.

Minister of Labor and Social Policy Spiro Ristovski said the project for inclusion in pre-school institutions has resulted in the involvement of 1,650 Roma children since 2006.

"The motivating fact is that 84 percent of them are enrolled in primary schools", added Ristovski.

Deputy-Minister of Education and Science Safet Neziri agreed that the number of Roma children has increased in the education process, adding that such policy would continue.

"The number of children not attending secondary education is gradually decreasing. Moreover, there is an upward trend of Roma enrolling at universities", said Neziri.

The conference brings together representatives of government institutions and Roma NGOs from 12 Decade member-states, as well as international experts in the field of pre-school education and early childhood development.