Ritu Cazacu is an Indian lady who settled in Romania more than 14 years ago by marriage. Although she does not hold dual citizenship, as this is not allowed by the Indian Constitution, she adapted relatively easily in Romania, she works and is involved in an educational project to support Romanian children in graduating the maturity exam - the high-school graduation exam (“Bacalaureat”).

Ritu was born and lived in Delhi. She has higher education and worked in marketing and sales. After her marriage in India she followed her husband to his home country. With her international experience and fluent English it was not very difficult for her to find work in advertising here. She is now Project Manager at "Centrul de Pregatire pentru Bac" ("Training Centre for the High School Graduation Exam"), a profitable business not just for Ritu but also for Romanian children.

Rep.: How have you integrated in Romania?
Ritu Cazacu (R.C.): My husband came to India, we married there and then we came here. Romanians are slightly racist, at the beginning they did not perceive any difference between Rroma and Indians and looked a bit strangely at me on the street. I found work in advertising and it was very good. Employers looked for me (at that time the advertising industry in Romania was not very mature, as it is now), it was a benefit for them as well to come with foreign experience. My English skills also helped a lot.

Rep.: How have you learned Romanian?
R.C.: It was difficult, I found it hard to speak to people. It was very complicated. But I started to watch films with subtitles and I started to understand, that's how I learned most of the Romanian I speak now.

Rep.: Have you ever felt discriminated in Romania for not having citizenship?
R.C.: No. I cannot have Romanian citizenship because the Indian Constitution does not allow dual citizenship, so I kept my original Indian citizenship. But my three children have dual citizenship, as in their case it is possible. And my children study now in India.

Rep.: How did you get the idea to open a training centre for the high-school graduation exam?
R.C.: I saw the catastrophic high school graduation results and I realised that all children need an effective training for this exam, not just private lessons. Within this project children can be trained by us for one year, as we should change their and their parents' mentality. We do lifestyle management, we teach them how to spend their time and, most important, we do the training for the high school graduation exam. We also have a nutritionist at the centre who explains to children what they should eat in order to better assimilate information, as well as a psychologist and a career counsellor. We do not leave things pending, after we prepare them for the exam we continue with the career counselling and help them get where they want to. We want these children to be prepared intellectually, physically but also emotionally for the maturity exam.

Rep.: How have parents accepted your being an Indian?
R.C.: At first they asked all sort of questions: do you understand our system, can you do anything for our children? Yes, because the teachers at the Centre are all Romanian, they come from the best high schools in Bucharest and the outcomes could be seen. Children have changed after 2-3 months of training with us. We have prepared so far 20 children, all Romanians. We also have monthly meetings with parents. Children are evaluated every month by the counsellor and the psychologist, so that parents know which direction their children head to. We often work more with the parents than with the child.

Rep.: What are the costs for the parent?
R.C.: Although we are a business, costs are very low because we want to encourage everyone to come, but as we pay for the teachers... One lesson for one pupil cost about 40-45 lei, whereas one hour of private lessons for the high school graduation exam with a mathematics teacher reaches 80 lei in the classic system. It is much cheaper with us and this price also includes counselling and many other services.

More details on the educational methods used at the centre led by Ritu Cazacu can be found on www.centrupregatirebac.ro.