In this episode of Smart Regions, we went to Satu Mare, Romania where Roma children learn to play chess. The results are surprising. The project manager explains why.
The Romanian association Stea deals with the integration of children from vulnerable communities. In Satu Mare, a small town on the Hungarian border, the fight for inclusion is particularly aimed at the children of the Roma community.
Stea has been working in this field for 20 years. In 2019, thanks to funding from the European Cohesion Policy, it introduced chess teaching among its activities; the game has been a success among the Roma children and has transmitted energy and enthusiasm to the entire community.
Cristina Bala, director of Stea and project manager of Chess for change, looks back on the experience: at first the teachers themselves were not convinced.
And yet in the very first year, within eight months, thanks to the perseverance of Cristina and her team, the children, 35 in all, learnt to play and 12 of them took part in international competitions and even won prizes.
Chess develops the ability to concentrate, reflect, and analyse and this has had a positive impact on the daily lives of the youngsters involved in the programme.
"Chess also has a positive effect on children with behavioural disorders. Some of them could not sit for more than five minutes, in front of the chessboard they can concentrate for more than forty minutes,” Cristina says.
"Children who started playing chess in 2019 today continue their studies in high school. And this is the most important result, because our association was looking for ways to change the approach to schooling of these children.”
Chess, self-esteem, and study
Cristina says that another achievement, thanks to the regional competition she has been organising since 2019, is to have created a space where Roma children and young people meet with Romanian children and young people: the love of chess creates bridges for other activities in common. An inclusion and integration initiative with incredible results: in addition to the development of the children's cognitive and emotional skills, there is also an improvement in their interaction in society because their self-esteem increases. It goes without saying that these adolescents continue to go to school beyond the compulsory age, eventually graduating.
Many continue afterwards and go on to university.
In an attempt to encourage young Roma to go to university, a law in Romania provides for a percentage of places reserved for them, without having to pass any selection. Today, they are often not awarded because no candidates apply. The Chess for Change project is slowly changing the approach of the most vulnerable communities towards education.
Just as the interchange between Roma children and their Romanian peers, parents included, now takes place without barriers and without prejudice.
The project started in 2019 with 60,000 euro from European Cohesion Policy funding. The total cost of the project was 70,000 euro.
Every year, Stea is looking for new patrons so as not to be forced to discontinue the programme.