“The reforms in education are aimed at achieving the state when every child is educated qualitatively regardless of the fact where exactly s/he lives in Latvia. To achieve the competitive quality of education, the available resources must be focused on improving the content of teaching, as well as increasing salaries for teachers. It is therefore necessary to change the existing network of educational establishments by decision-making based on sound, statutory criteria that are understandable to the public,” said Raimonds Vējonis.
The head of state notified that he sent a letter to the Saeima where he proposed to draft amendments to the Law on General Education envisaging that quality indicators of an educational attainment at that specific establishment, population of a municipality, demographic projections, access to education, and national and local interests should be taken into account when reorganizing or terminating an educational establishment.
The President of Latvia appreciated the reforms proposed by the Minister of Education and Science and launched by the government, including the introduction of a new teacher wage model and work on the development of content and methods compliant with the contemporary needs. At the same time, the President of Latvia called on taking further steps in the reforming.
“Large differences in teacher wages in various places in Latvia and the results of OECD study on different level of knowledge when the students from rural schools and their peers in urban areas are compared illustrate clearly that the school network has not undergone any modification that would be in proportion to a decreasing number of students,” stated the President of Latvia. He stressed that the government should be able to take specific decisions on the changes in the school network despite the approaching local elections.
During the meeting, the officials discussed the progress of reforms in higher education. The President of Latvia emphasised that there were still too many state-funded higher education institutions and curricula. “to achieve an increase in quality of higher education, to promote international competitiveness and export capacity, it is important to concentrate human and financial resources," outlined Raimonds Vējonis calling on the Minister of Education and Science to continue the initiated changes.
During the discussion of the current events in science, the President of Latvia admitted that the current public funding for the science of 0.68% of GDP was low. Thus, the role of science in economic development was underestimated. At the same time, the President of Latvia also called for scientists to be active in raising funds for research projects, mentioning a most ambitious project in science up to now, CAMART2, as a successful example.