Social inclusion through team sports and education: sport for development

Dysfunctional family relationships make the social integration of children into a regular school career more difficult and put a strain on them, and accordingly also reduce the children's future prospects. One of the most important prevention and protection mechanisms for the successful development of children is therefore their inclusion in the public school system. Unfortunately, parents and schools do not offer the children the support they need to successfully complete primary and secondary school (primary school / primary school grades 1 to 9 and secondary school another 4 years). The premature drop-out rate from school for Roma children and other disadvantaged / vulnerable children in Bijeljina is high. Diverse efforts are necessary for disadvantaged / vulnerable children to remain successfully in the Bosnian school system. Children need separate learning support, an incentive to attend school regularly and to improve their social skills. Parents' awareness of education must also be heightened and communication between home and school intensified. At the same time, prejudices on the part of the school (and the majority society) against children in the relevant settlement must be broken down; but at the same time the fear of the Roma community about state institutions must be reduced. The "Sports for Social Change" project addresses all of these interfaces and has already achieved far-reaching successes through the innovative use of football as an inclusion method in combination with non-formal educational offers, which must now be consolidated and expanded.