| Abstract: | The language of school is very often an obstacle to the successful education of indigenous, migrant, and minority children. One such group in Europe, the Romani, constitutes an ideal case of educational injustice meeting linguistic difference, racism, social marginalization, and poverty. Notwithstanding its virtues, rights-based advocacy for language minority children has not fulfilled its promise of educational justice: we propose that Sen’s comparative capabilities approach is a better approach. We raise preliminary questions about (a) the unique linguistic situation for Romani youth in contemporary Europe, and (b) about the advantages of using Sen’s capabilities approach as a conceptual tool for this investigation, and for investigations of other situations where linguistic minorities face persistent social injustice. We will attempt this through the investigation of a recent case of discrimination against Romani children on the basis of language, adjudicated by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). |
