The Saeima will evaluate the citizens’ initiative on the proposed school reform

On Wednesday, May 8, the Saeima’s Committee on Mandates, Ethics and Submissions will evaluate the citizens’ initiative on the proposed school reform.

The author of the initiative, Irina Graudiņa, wants the parliament to evaluate whether the report on school reform prepared by the Ministry of Education and Science, which, among other things, requires compliance with the number of students in schools, has been prepared in accordance with the interests of Latvian citizens, including rural residents, and whether it is not adopted unilaterally without understanding the real situation in the country.

Graudiņa believes that school reform has not been “adequately discussed” by the government. She notes that it is planned to close or reorganize around 60 rural schools in various regions of Latvia, and that this is a “national problem”.

The author of the initiative emphasizes that the decision to close the school in Kuldīga district affects several schools, including Zigfrīda Anna Meierovics Kabile elementary school. According to her, the local government of Kuldīga county “does not take into account the basic rights and interests of the children of its own county or neighboring counties”.

According to Graudiņas, the municipality is forced to act in this way by the Ministry of Interior’s new regulations, the “legitimacy of which is debatable”.

The representative of the initiative believes that there is no excessive sign of equality between the schools slated for closure, and each case must be evaluated individually, considering also the possibility of transforming primary schools into primary schools.

“According to the rules of the Ministry of Education and Culture, however debatable they may be, the number of children in our school does not meet the parameters set there. However, we do not consider that the number of missing children is so significant that the liquidation of schools is the only way to solve the financial problems of the state and local government at the expense of the liquidation of rural schools , without understanding the specific situation,” Graudiņa expresses, emphasizing that by preserving a “viable school” a “viable, creative and self-sufficient community” will be preserved.