On 1 August, President Edgars Rinkēvičs met with Minister of Education and Science Anda Čakša at Riga Castle to discuss the priorities of the sector for this year and 2024, as well as the planned education reform, the results of the 2023 exams and the situation in science.
President Rinkēvičs drew attention to the fact that, overall, Latvia's funding for the education sector is one of the highest in the European Union, but we lag far behind the leaders in the quality of education, which points to a significant need to reorganise the system.
‘The results of this year's exams indicate a critical situation in the education system, which is also the result of a shortage of teaching staff, especially in Latvia's regions. Reforming the system must include adequate support for local authorities, as well as training for teaching staff to ensure a high quality and sufficient number of teachers. The beneficiaries of the education reform must be the students of Latvia, who must receive quality education regardless of their place of residence or social status of their family,’ President Rinkēvičs emphasised during the meeting.
During the conversation, the President expressed the opinion that the Ministry of Education and Science should actively work on strengthening the capacity of higher education and science. The target of allocating at least 1.5% of gross domestic product to science should not be abandoned.
