What the organisations examined
The report focused on mainstream schools and classes, rather than analysing the separate issue of Roma children’s overrepresentation in special education. Its authors reviewed legislation, court decisions and official education data. They described shortages of facilities and the use of two-shift schooling in segregated settings, alongside unequal educational outcomes. These findings were the organisations’ assessment of the evidence they examined. The distinction matters: improving a school building or adding capacity does not itself establish that children are learning together on equal terms. [1]
The legal pressure behind the reforms
On 19 April 2023, the European Commission decided to refer Slovakia to the EU Court of Justice over the failure to address school segregation effectively. Its infringement procedure had begun in 2015. This was a decision to bring proceedings, not a court judgment. In a separate domestic case brought by the rights organisation Poradňa, the Regional Court in Prešov upheld a ruling on 22 April 2024 concerning Roma children from Malý Slivník attending school in Terňa. The case addressed discriminatory school-district decisions and failures to prevent segregation. [4]
An order needs a route to delivery
The Terňa judgment required the responsible authorities to prepare a corrective plan within six months of the judgment becoming final and carry it out within two years of finality. The plan had to examine school capacity and pupils’ ethnic and social composition, and include effective measures and prevention. That level of detail links an equality ruling to the practical organisation of education. The judgment establishes duties; it does not establish that desegregation was subsequently completed. The documents reviewed here do not verify compliance with those deadlines. [4]
A pilot and a question of scale
The education ministry announced its Opportunity for All project on 23 October 2024, with a EUR 6.9 million budget from European funding and 12 municipalities confirming participation at that stage. It described testing local desegregation solutions and supporting school staff. Amnesty and ERRC acknowledged the initiative but questioned its limited reach and the route from pilots to sustained national change. Their 2025 assessment is historical, not a fresh inspection in 2026. Its practical point remains clear: funding and new standards need to be connected to changes in enrolment, teaching and access that can be demonstrated. [5][1]