than that of majority peers with half receiving, failing or near failing marks in Hungarian language and mathematics. It also takes longer for Roma children to finish their schooling. Of the. Roma children with less than eight grade levels, nearly all are entirely or functionally illiterate. The Roma initiative of UNICEF in Romania identified the key social, economic, cultural, and systemic barriers leading to Roma children's non-enrolment, non-attendance, and school drop-out in Romania. These include: precarious health conditions, gender-norms favoring the education of boys, poor child self-image, and poor school achievement. Of Roma children who had dropped out cited lack of interest, two thirds cited lack of interest, 20 per cent said they had experienced feelings of rejection, and only 10 per cent had a positive attitude to school. That office has therefore' invested in assessing and analyzing the problems and the causes of Roma marginalization in the context of education, as well as the obligations of the Romanian state . Roma education gaps also have an important gender dimension. About three quarters of Roma women do not complete primary education, compared with one fifth of women from majority communities. Although disaggregated statistics are only beginning to be collected, evidence is emerging that literacy and other indicators are poorer for Roma girls than boys. Roma women in Albania have spent an average of 5.5 years in school, as compared with 8 years for men. Some of the barriers causing the poor educational outcomes for children from Roma communities, include: Lack of access to early childhood care and education services; Lack of birth registration; Poverty and social exclusion; Segregation between and within schools; Poor quality learning environments;