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26.03.2008.
Education in national minority languages is a precondition for maintaining the cultural identity of national minorities in Latvia. The Latvian government provides education in eight national minority languages, even where only a small number of children are seeking instruction in a certain language.
The need for national minority education reform
Until the mid-1990s, two different school systems - Russian and Latvian - existed in Latvia, each with its own curriculum. When the new language laws came into force in 2000, and the ability to speak Latvian became an integral part of life in both the state and private sectors, it was necessary to create an education system able to provide equal opportunity in the labour and education markets for graduates from both Latvian and national minority schools. This involved ensuring that a sufficient number of classes in national minority schools were taught in the Latvian language. It was also necessary to ensure that the numerous national minorities living in Latvia had the opportunity to obtain instruction in their respective mother tongues, for their cultural heritage to be preserved.
The Law on Education (1998)
The Law on Education was adopted in 1998. The working group charged with drafting the Law consisted of international experts, directors of national minority schools, teachers, and specialists from the Ministry of Education and Science, who based their decisions on experience garnered from national minority education curricula implemented in several other European countries.
The Law on Education provides a solid foundation for the national minority education system. The Law ensures that national minority education curricula include both the content necessary for passing on ethnic cultural heritage and attaining the goals of society integration.
Primary schools
The Ministry of Education has drawn up four model bilingual education curricula for primary schools that differ from each other in terms of the proportion of classes to be taught in the national minority language and/or Latvian. National minority schools can opt for one of these curricula or prepare their own. The Law stipulates that a bilingual curriculum had to be implemented by all national minority primary schools from the start of the 2002/2003 school year.
Secondary schools
National minority secondary schools, having been given sufficient time in which to prepare for the reform, started to implement national minority education curricula with an increased Latvian language component as of 1 September 2004. This means that in grades 10–12 of state and municipal general education institutions, the number of subjects taught in Latvian will increase from three to five. 40% of the total number of subjects will still be taught in the national minority language. This increase was phased in, beginning with grade 10 in 2004 and then followed by grade 11 in 2005 and grade 12 in 2006. Primary schools will continue to offer a bilingual curriculum also after 2006.
A corresponding education programme for national minority secondary schools was conceptually approved by the National Minority Education Consultative Council, the body established in 2001 to maintain contact between the Ministry of Education, students and teachers of national minority schools, parents' organisations and NGOs. The modalities of the programme were discussed with all heads of national minority schools during 2002. The dialogue will continue, involving new partners in the Consultative Council.
The research done by the Inspectorate proves that the education reform is being carried out successfully, and public attitude towards the reform is becoming more positive. There has been a significant turn with regard to informing the schoolchildren and their parents about the reform: the news provided by schools prevails over the propaganda of the Russian press.
The reform was welcomed by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Rolf Ekeus. Mr Ekeus affirmed during recent visits to Latvia that the reform was in line with international national minority rights standards and expressed the belief that increasing the use of Latvian in the classroom is necessary, as Latvian is the official state language. The Commissioner emphasised that not only Latvia has the right to introduce the reform, indeed it has a duty to do so. During the visit to Latvia in June of 2005, Mr Ekeus voiced his appreciation for the successful implementation of the reform, and positively evaluated the free choice given to the schools in determining the subjects which should be taught in the official state language.
Former Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis acknowledged that the implementation of the reform has been successful, and emphasized that the key criterion – to maintain a high quality of education- has also been fulfilled. The Ministry of Education and Science, having assessed the effect of a bilingual education on primary schools, came to the conclusion that the situation proved to be neither better nor worse in comparison to previous years. As from 2007 the content of state examinations at secondary school level is in Latvian. In grade 12 students can take state examinations in Latvian or Russian. The summary of examination results prepared by the Centre for Curriculum Development and Examinations indicates that in the 2006/2007 school year the results of examinations in educational institutions which implement curricula with Latvian as the language of instruction were similar to those which implement national minority curricula. In general, the results of centralised examinations suggest that the changes introduced to the national minority curricula with regard to the language of instruction and the state examinations have not significantly influenced the educational achievements of students.
On 18 October 2005 by decision of the Government the State Agency for General Education Quality Assurance was formed with one of its tasks being to investigate and assess the quality of educational establishments through independent evaluation. On 1 August 2006, a continued education programme for 2006 – 2008 for teachers was started under supervision of the Agency, targeted to improving the professional qualifications of teachers which in turn would improve the quality of education. Total funding of this programme amounts to EUR 1 140 000.
In Latvia the State supports education in minority languages more than many other European countries. Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Mr Alvaro Hil-Robles, has expressed support for the education reform in Latvia in his Report issued on 12 February 2004.
Institutional involvement
In the context of implementing education reform in national minority schools, the Ministry of Education and Science and the National Agency for Latvian Language Training (NALLT) have clarified that the education reform will be carried out in national minority schools and have distributed informative brochures for parents and students on the increased use of Latvian in national minority secondary school curricula. The NALLT runs seminars and conferences on the issue, offers training for teachers to teach in two languages and prepares and publishes appropriate teaching materials. The NALLT has ensured that all national minority secondary school teachers are provided with language training courses free of charge.
Teachers receive bonus payments for teaching in Latvian and bilingually. These bonuses increase regularly: with LVL 808,368 (~ EUR 1,283,123) allocated for this purpose in 2002, LVL 888,364 (~ EUR 1,410,100) in 2003, in 2004 LVL 1,220,598 (~ EUR 1,794,998), in 2005 - LVL 1,403,680 (~ EUR 2,034,319). Commencing in 2006, responsibility for bonus payments is left to the competence of local governments, thus providing an opportunity to support specialists in bilingual education at the regional level.
The Society Integration Foundation provides funding to promote national minority education and fosters dialogue in society and among national minorities themselves. The Foundation has financially supported seminars for parents of students in national minority schools, continues to be involved in this issue, and envisages continuing to do so for the foreseeable future. Numerous Foundation projects aim to facilitate the transition to Latvian in national minority schools, while others help to preserve ethnic minority language and culture and promote co-operation between Latvian and national minority schools.
Implementation of the education reform is accompanied by regular information campaigns. The Society Integration Foundation financed 18 projects worth approx. EUR 50,000.00 from the state budget in 2003, while in 2004 funding was allocated for a further 9 projects worth approximately EUR 40,000.00, and in 2005 five projects worth approximately EUR 7,000.00 have been supported. The Secretariat of the Minister of Special Assignments for Society Integration Affairs, working with the Ministry of Education and Science has published a booklet "Education Reform - what exactly is it?" providing answers to the most often asked questions concerning national minority education.
The Consultative Council on issues of national minority education, established in 2001, helps maintain a dialogue between the Ministry of Education and Science, students and teachers of national minority schools, parents' organisations and NGOs. In July 2004 a special working group was established for constructive dialogue with public organisations including representatives of the Association for Support of Latvia's Russian Language Schools, with a view to continue work on improving national minority education curricula models, taking into consideration the views and suggestions of representatives of national minorities and thus promoting the involvement of national minorities in the shaping and development of national minority education. The Social policy centre Providus has been actively involved in promoting the dialogue, and helped organise the Fifth Social Policy Forum Integration and education of national minorities in September 2004.
Minority education: statistics and trends
State financed secondary education in Latvia is available in eight national minority languages - Russian, Polish, Hebrew, Ukrainian, Estonian, Lithuanian, Roma and Belarusian. Courses in state financed universities are conducted in Latvian, while a number of private educational institutions have language(s) of instruction other than Latvian.
In the 2007/2008 school year, 722 schools use Latvian as the sole language of instruction, 141 schools use Russian (implementing a bilingual education programme), and in 88 schools the language of instruction is both Latvian and Russian (bilingual education programme; these are schools where there are both Latvian and national minority classes). In five schools instruction is given in Polish, at one in Ukrainian, and at one in Belarusian. In one Estonian and in one Lithuanian school some subjects are taught in the national minority language. In two schools Romany is taught as an optional subject.
Over the last ten years there has been a general trend of increasing demand for education in Latvian, with a corresponding decrease in demand for education in Russian. In the 2007/2008 school year, 72.4% of first-graders began their studies solely in Latvian.
This trend has mainly been due to the willingness of non-Latvian parents to seek an education for their children that guarantees increased opportunities for university study and greater competitiveness in the local labour market.
Table. Number of students by language of instruction (Ministry of Education and Science)
|
School year |
1995/
1996 |
1999/
2000 |
2000/
2001 |
2001/
2002 |
2002/
2003 |
2003/
2004 |
2004/
2005 |
2005/
2006 |
2006/ 2007 |
2007/ 2008 |
|
Latvian |
203 607 |
239 163 |
242 475 |
242 183 |
237 425 |
230 212 |
214 855 |
205 189 |
194 230 |
184 107 |
|
Russian |
132 540 |
120 925 |
116 009 |
108 454 |
101 486 |
95 841 |
84 559 |
77 471 |
70 683 |
65 402 |
|
Others minorities* |
1513 |
1344 |
1344 |
1352 |
1397 |
1305 |
1 253 |
1287 |
1198 |
1432 |
|
Total |
337 660 |
361 432 |
359 818 |
351 989 |
340 308 |
327 358 |
300 667 |
283 947 |
266 111 |
250 941 |
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% learning in Latvian |
60.3 |
66.2 |
67.4 |
68.8 |
69.8 |
70.3 |
71.5 |
72.3 |
72.99 |
73.4 |
* Note: in some minority schools the language of instruction is predominantly either Latvian or Russian.
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