Latvian Education: Past and Present

Education in Latvia: Past and Present I. Introduction Imagine a 7 year old boy sitting in the classroom. He will start someday and I am looking forward to the end. Finally, his teacher started talking about what happens in the class of the day. The boy was surprised and confused. The words that his teacher speaks are quite different from the words familiar to boys. The boy grew up in Latvia, but the language he grew up at home was Russian.

As the Latvian Ministry of Education announced on the official website of the Latvian government on 6th October, the Latvian People 's Republic released eight stories in Latvian for two and a half and sixteen stories in Russian. Russian Latvian online media Vesti.lv announced 19 stories in Russian in the same period. In contrast, the Russian version of Delfi, the largest online media in Latvia, announced eight stories during the same period. The government's initiative to increase the number of teachings in minority schools in Latvia mobilized hundreds of Russian speaking people in Latvia. The protest action expressed in front of the education department of Latvia on 23rd October requested protection of the rights of minorities receiving secondary education in their mother tongue.

On October 23, hundreds of Russian speaking people gathered in front of the education department of Latvia to protest the government's decision to start a school in Russia in Latvia. Protestors asked for protection of the rights of minorities to receive secondary education in the desired language and the parent Kremlin media in Latvia immediately expanded the mood and slogans of the protesters. Currently, the Ministry of Education recommends that Russian schools teach 60% of Latvian and 40% of Russian, but the school maintains the ability to select languages ​​between subjects. Intensive examinations are conducted in Latvia, but Russian students can choose the languages ​​they answer.