We continue our series on schools taking part in our project aimed at attracting gypsy children to school education. Today we introduce readers to School 7 in Gatchina, in the district of Marienburg. There have always been gypsy pupils in Marienburg school \u2013after all, Gatchina is a traditional settlement for Leningrad oblast gypsies. A particular feature of this location is that, as in Pushkin region, \u2018Moldovans\u2019 \u2013a Moldovan-speaking ethnic group\u2013 as well as Russian gypsies (Russka Roma) live there.<\/p>\n
There are gypsy pupils in almost all forms, but particularly many in Lidia Yakolevna Vladimirova\u2019s. She is a Veteran of Labour and has worked in schools for 50 years. She began her career by gaining a primary school teacher \/ children\u2019s home educator\u2019s diploma in Tomsk oblast, to where her entire group were sent in their \u2018distribution\u2019 [the allocation of trainee teachers to schools after their graduation in the USSR \u2013A. G.]. During the war she found herself in occupied territory in Smolensk oblast. Her family saved several Soviet captives, by getting hold of documents for them and conveying them to the Partisans. She has worked in Gatchina region for 30 years. During this time around forty gypsy pupils have passed through her hands. \u2018I don\u2019t even remember them all,\u2019 she says. \u2018But then I\u2019m walking along and they say hello to me and I remember what everyone\u2019s called.\u2019 And now her former pupils are studying in middle and high school.