On the occasion of the ‘International Roma Day’, KaskoSan Ltd., Roma charitable company supporting Eastern European Roma in the North of England since 2014 proudly presents ‘COVID-19 STREET SCHOOLING PART 2’, the first documentary produced by a Roma charity in the U.K. 

WATCH PART 2 →

Shot during the first three months of the UK’s national lockdown in 2020, part 1 of the film, ‘COVID-19 Street Schooling’, was the charity’s first broadcast in the UK in February 2021. 

WATCH PART 1 →

The charity decided to release the second episode on April 8 to honour the 50th anniversary of the first world Romani congress held on April 8 1971. 

In part 2, filmed in the second lockdown, Roma children and their families open up about bullying in school. 

The spectacular images and music performed by Roma families in Bradford introduce the viewer into the heartbreaking challenges of Roma families in the pandemic. 

Viewers also get a taste of a popular Roma hit with the theme of bullying while another song uncovers the pain Roma need to suffer due to the long history of persecution and discrimination. 

The film depicts the serious commitment of Bowling Park Primary School in Bradford to deliver quality education to all of their students forced to learn from home in the pandemic, including victims of the widening digital divide, even if they are to take an extra mile. 

KaskoSan believes that education is the way out of the several centuries of oppression Roma people endure and this film encourages Roma children to dare to dream and to work hard every day to make that a reality.

To please KaskoSan viewers, Vadim and Sasha Kolkapov, Roma seven string guitarists living in the United States, granted licence to the charity to use ‘Gypsy Boom’, their own composition for PART 2.

To ensure the safety of all contributors, the film making crew with decades of experience in the industry strictly followed the COVID-19 BBC Production Guidance.

-ENDS- 

Notes to editors: KaskoSan Ltd. is a Roma charitable company.

COVID-19 Street Schooling is an in-house professional production. Crew members with extensive experience in the film and TV production industry followed the BBC COVID-safe guidelines for film and TV production as well as the COVID-19 restrictions during the making of this film.