Daugavpils municipality has no plans to close local schools. However, the shortage of financing may force a merge of schools, said Chairman of Daugavpils Council Andrejs Elksniņš at a press conference.
There are two schools in Daugavpils that do not meet the requirement for a specific number of pupils – J.Rainis Daugavpils 6th Elementary School and 11th Primary School, as reported by vice-chairman of Daugavpils Council Aleksejs Vasiļjevs.
The state does not finance such schools, and the municipality does not have enough money to afford it either, said Vasiļjevs.
Elksniņš called the school network’s reform as measures aimed against small schools.
He said in the 30s of the 20th century there were many schools built in Latvia’s regions and border regions, because “it is the centre around which the development of cities, parishes and common infrastructure is formed”.
The transfer of financing to municipalities when the municipal equalisation mechanism is basically an inequality mechanism, according to the mayor of Daugavpils, is making municipalities into hostages.
The municipality is currently looking for solutions, considering the new order of things and that the municipality will definitely not go down the path of school closure, stressed Elksniņš.
The municipality will consider merging schools to create an ecosystem the state wants to see.
As previously reported, approximately 100 schools might lose 7th-12th grade education levels as a result of optimisation of the school network.
Latvian Ministry of Education and Science previously proposed criteria for the “creation of an effective school network”. The main criteria for an effective and sustainable school network, according to the Ministry of Education, are the attainment depending on the stage of education, the number of pupils in class groups depending on the density of pupils in the municipality and the capacity of the pedagogical staff.
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