There are a total of 166 jobs still vacant in education institution in Riga. This includes 80 jobs in kindergartens, as reported by Riga municipality’s representatives at the press-conference on Wednesday, the 3rd of April.
The shortage is the most severe of Latvian language and second foreign language teachers. Education institutions are also looking for music and math teachers.
This year, the municipality has found a way to increase teachers’ wages by 12% with more than EUR 16 million in funding.
At the press-conference representatives of the municipality presented the developed teachers’ benefits basket. However, they did not say how much it will cost.
On top of that, for the second consecutive year now Riga municipality partially covers teaching costs, so that teachers can learn a second subject to teach.
86 pre-school assistant teachers are currently studying at the University of Latvia for re-qualification purposes. A single participant of the programme costs the municipality around EUR 4 000.
Support is provided by Riga Educational and Informational Methodological Centre. Accenture programme Start IT may start providing aid to teachers in the near future.
Riga municipality is also committed to paying teaching courses to representatives of natural sciences who are interested in working in a school but lack pedagogical education.
Riga municipality also plans to implement an awareness campaign to attract aspiring teachers. Riga municipality’s representatives could not say how many teachers are planned to be attracted.
“Our goal is to provide Riga with schools with teachers, and [the campaign] is one of the tools that will help us achieve this goal,” said chairperson of Riga City Council Education, Culture and Sports Committee Laima Geikina.
Reaching this goal depends also on the national policy. The shortage of teachers is “a complicated problem” across Latvia, and it cannot be resolved in a single municipality, said Geikina.
Also read: Unemployment level in Latvia is higher than average in the EU and Eurozone
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