RIGA — Some 35 Latvian schools will be shut down and another 89 will be reorganized or merged from Sept. 1 as part of a major overhaul of the education sector.
It emerged yesterday that another 14 schools could also face the axe as part of the sweeping changes.
The closures affect vocational, as well as primary and secondary schools and are expected to continue throughout 2010.
Minister of Education and Science Tatjana Koke said structural changes were long overdue and are necessary to streamline and improve the efficiency of the education sector.
“Optimization and reduction of the school network is the objective reality,” said Koke earlier this month.
According to Koke the country’s demographics, not economic situation are behind the closures.
She said statistics showed student numbers are in steady decline, falling by about one-third over the last decade.
In comparison the number of schools has been cut by just one-tenth, while the number of teachers and school principals has decreased by only five to seven percent.
“The figures speak eloquently for themselves … I cannot say that the crisis led to this situation. It was created by the demographic situation, and to some extent resulted in the pay reductions of teachers in our system,” said Koke.
Deep cuts to the Education and Science Ministry’s budget, which has been slashed by 186 million lats (€264.65 million) this year, also saw a dramatic reduction in teacher salaries.
Polls show the Latvian public is at odds with Koke, though.
In a recent public opinion survey by DnB Nord Banka 57 percent of residents said the education system in Latvia is being destroyed.
According to the poll 67 percent of respondents disapprove of the closure of small schools and 43 percent believe this will cause a decline in education quality in Latvia.
Fifty percent of respondents said money must not be saved at the expense of education, and less than 5 percent said they supported staff cuts in schools and wage cuts for teachers.
Sixty-three percent indicated they would support a teachers’ strike.
In April more than 10,000 teachers took to the streets in Riga to protest education reforms which saw their salaries slashed by 20 percent.
Riga schools aren’t spared
Last month Riga Mayor Nils Usakovs indicated 10 existing schools in the country’s capital will be closed and merged with others from Sept. 1.
A total of 30 schools will be restructured in the capital up until 2011.
Under the plan a number of primary schools will be merged with high schools, and new kindergartens set up in their place.
The municipality will no longer maintain schools that are rented from private owners, and abandon those school buildings deemed unsuitable for learning.
The overhaul of city schools is expected to save city authorities about 200,000 lats this year and a further 1.7 million lats in 2010.
Guntis Helmanis, head of Riga City Council Education, Sports and Youth Department, conceded about 400 teachers may lose their jobs as a result of the changes, although some could take up positions freed up by retirement-age staff.
