Starting from 1 September 2022 some parents in Riga may have to pay 1-2 euros extra for their children’s school lunches. Free lunches may be maintained for some children, as reported by Riga City Council chairman Mārtiņš Staķis at a press-briefing on Tuesday, 19 April.
To ensure appropriate catering services remain uninterrupted in Riga’s education institutions in spite of the rapid growth of food prices and related costs, Riga municipal administration plans to increase the price of catering from EUR 1.42 to EUR 2 at schools and from EUR 2.77 to EUR 4 at kindergartens starting with 1 September. This measure was agreed by parties of the ruling coalition in Riga City Council Par!/Progresīvie, New Unity, National Alliance VL–TB/LNNK, Latvian Association of Regions and For Latvia’s Development.
Free lunches will remain for 1st – 4th grade students, as well as students from poor and large families.
Students studying in 5th to 12th grade will have to pay 50% extra or EUR 1 for their lunches.
For children going to kindergartens, parents and municipal administration will have to pay EUR 2 extra for full three meals – breakfast, dinner and supper.
Riga City Council’s Education, Culture and Sports Department director Māris Krastiņš explained that the municipal administration allocates EUR 21.6 million towards free lunches for students of various age. EUR 3.8 million is needed to pay wages to kindergarten kitchen workers. The state provides co-financing of EUR 3.5 million for lunches of 1st to 4th graders. Krastiņš said that to ensure free lunches are available to all children and students, the municipal budget would need to allocate EUR 16.9 million from the budget next year.
Riga City Council Education, Culture and Sports Committee plans to discuss proposed changes at the next meeting. If approved, amendments will come to force 1 September.
Caterers have stressed for a long time that the existing funding will no longer be enough to provide catering at current prices. This is why both Riga City Council and Pierīga municipal administrations have sent letters to the government, requesting an increase of financing for catering services in education institutions. This needs to be done immediately. This is why the municipal administration will soon decide on increasing financing. It is planned to be partially covered using the municipality’s funding and partially using increased payments from parents, as previously warned by the city council.
It is planned for co-payments to be processed by catering companies that are licenced to provide catering services at education institutions. Latvian Association of Caterers board member Guntis Bredovskis stressed that the situation has changed due to the war and economic sanctions. The rise of costs has reached an unprecedented rate and unpredictable volume. Caterers now have to deal with problems to ensure they are able to continue operations. The fact that Riga municipality is actively looking for solutions in this situation is a very positive fact, said Bredovskis.
Residents may have to pay more for school lunches in Riga in the next school year
