Today, the 2025/2026 school year begins in Latvia’s educational institutions. This year, 223,696 pupils will start their studies in general education institutions, including 19,956 first-graders and 2,196 children from Ukraine, according to provisional data compiled by the Ministry of Education and Science (MoES). A total of 26,222 teachers will be involved in educating students.
On the 1st of September, 477 municipal general education institutions will open their doors – 25 primary schools, 239 elementary schools, 183 secondary schools, and 30 state gymnasiums – along with 37 special education institutions. In addition, 76 private schools will also operate in the new academic year.
The number of students in vocational education is expected to remain at the previous level – around 28,000, the MoES forecasts. Of these, about 10,000 will begin their first year of studies in 53 vocational education institutions.
According to the MoES, Latvia’s education system as a whole is ready for the new school year.
This academic year will mark the completion of the transition to Latvian-only instruction in schools implementing minority education programs. From the 1st of September, 4th and 7th grade students, who until now studied under minority curricula, will begin learning exclusively in Latvian.
At the same time, Latvian schools will start phasing out Russian as a second foreign language
in basic education. This year, 4th graders will study only English as their first foreign language. Beginning in the 2026/2027 school year, they will choose a second foreign language from the official languages of the European Union or European Economic Area countries, or other foreign languages regulated by intergovernmental agreements in the field of education. Russian is not among these options.
Changes are also expected in the organization of centralized examinations. These will affect both elementary and secondary school graduates, who since the 2022/2023 school year have been taking exams according to the new curriculum.
To obtain a certificate of completion of basic education, students must pass exams in Latvian, a foreign language, and mathematics.
Secondary school students must pass Latvian, mathematics, and a foreign language at least at the optimal level,
as well as two exams from a list of 14 subjects at the highest level.
This year, secondary school graduates will also be required to take a new centralized exam in biology, chemistry, or physics at the optimal level, or in natural sciences at the general level.
It is also planned to reduce the number of mandatory highest-level exams from two to one and to abolish the requirement to submit access materials for centralized exams in advanced courses.
For 9th grade students, the foreign language exam is proposed to be organized as a monitoring test. It is also planned that basic school graduates will need to achieve at least 15% to pass an exam. In the last two years, a minimum of 10% was sufficient for a 9th grade exam to be considered passed.
Basic school students who have received an annual grade of no less than “4” in all subjects but have not successfully passed one of the exams
will be allowed to continue studies in a vocational education program.
These programs last three years and grant a level 3 professional qualification. At the same time, students will also continue to study the subject they failed, in order to retake the exam at the end of the academic year.
Until now, students who did not pass a national examination were required to repeat the 9th grade curriculum. However, the MoES acknowledges that being held back a year does not in itself guarantee improvement in academic performance.
In the 2024/2025 school year, 1.7% of all students in grades 1–9, or 3,135 pupils, repeated the same grade. Of these, 1,096 were 9th graders, making up 5.1% of all students in that grade.
From this school year, the use of mobile phones in schools will be banned up to grade 6, unless they are necessary for the implementation of the study program. This is stipulated by amendments to the Education Law adopted by the Saeima last autumn. The conditions and procedures for the use of technical devices in the learning and educational process, as well as in communication, are determined by each educational institution.
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