The Indian Journal of Social Work’s special issue on Collectivity and Empowerment in Poverty Alleviation – India and the Roma (2016). 1 Alternative Education and Roma Empowerment: a Case Study of the Dr. Ambedkar Buddhist School in Sajókaza, Hungary Jekatyerina Dunajeva and Patrick Ciaschi Abstract: The Roma minority is found at the margins and fringes of most dimensions of Hungarian societal life. Segregation in the education system, at all levels, comprises one of those dimensions and is a reality that necessitates urgent attention. While de-segregation efforts have been attempted, the possibilities for change in the system as a whole have proven difficult, if not impossible. This is due to the normalised and deeply entrenched forms of discrimination and xenophobia that permeate urban and rural elementary and secondary school classrooms in Hungary. The small northern Hungarian town of Sajókaza is a microcosm of these pernicious issues. Where the Roma population, numbered at a third of the total town population (approximately 1,000 to 3,000 total), inhabits ghetto-like conditions and the Roma children are excluded from the local schooling system. Nevertheless, it is also a town where an alternative educational project for Roma integration has been successfully spearheaded. This paper describes and explores the critical pedagogies practiced by the Dr. Ambedkar Buddhist School (Dr. Ámbédkar Iskola) in Sajókaza. Building on a set of interviews conducted during the spring of 2016 with the school’s founders, Tibor Dérdak and János Orsós, the authors shed some light on the curricula, and teaching occurring within the school. The authors also report on the school’s mission to transform the social and economic situation of Roma children and teenagers through the teachings of Buddhist, critical pedagogue and visionary Dr. B. R. Ambedkar 1 . The aim of this paper is to provide insights into the ways in which local projects of inclusion and Roma empowerment are being deployed through alternative education arrangements and platforms, and how these have the potential of contributing to inclusive community development and long-term poverty alleviation. Dr. Jekatyerina Dunajeva, Assistant Professor, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Political Science and Patrick Ciaschi, Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Politics at the New School for Social Research, New York, USA and Visiting Researcher at the Lippai Balázs Roma Szakkollégium, Faculty of Child and Adult Education, University of Debrecen. 1 Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891-1956) was a leading intellectual at the height of Indian national state foundation; and one of the most important drafters of the Indian constitution. He’s become synonymous with social justice and emancipatory ideals in India, and was one of the leading figures of the Dalit Buddhist Movement to end discriminatory caste politics. A forward thinker still very much revered today.