Opinion piece – Ilona Bērziņa, BNN
Latvian PM Krišjānis Kariņš has found a cure for the problems that plague Latvia’s education system. He suggests that if Latvia reduces the number of schools, the country will have what Estonia has now. The country will be able to forget about mediocrity among students, teachers will get wages worthy of officials, and new teachers will storm the schools to fill in vacant posts.
Unfortunately, the idea of optimising the school network was juggled so much by previous ministers of education, no one believes it any more.
Latvian Association of Education and Science Workers (LIZDA) previously warned the government about possible strikes. But these strikes have become a normal sight as well.
In almost 30 years there have been approximately ten protest acts organised by teachers over insufficient wages,
and practically all this time talks about possible school network optimisation have remained active. If the school network is optimised, schools that have a small number of students will go away, and everyone will be happy for some reason. Teachers working larger classes of students will be paid more, municipal administrations will save money, officials will attach a medal to their suits for successful optimisation of the school network, and children will become so smart, they could get ahead of Estonian students in OECD student knowledge rating!
At the Saeima meeting of the 17th of February, Kariņš said «the portion of the budget pie that goes to the education, is more or less the same in Latvia and Estonia» and «basically our education system receives proportionally large funding». This is why Latvia should follow Estonia’s example and reduce the number of schools, which would help increase wages of teachers. Similarly to Estonia, where teachers are paid nearly twice as much…
Let’s compare. After the compromise reached in September 2022, the lowest rate for teachers in Latvia is EUR 1 080. In Estonia the minimal pay teachers received was EUR 1 412 a month before taxes until December 2022. Starting with the 1st of January 2023 this amount is EUR 1 749.
But even Estonian teachers received pay rise as a result of a strike, and in this country, like Latvia, there were talks that the situation is critical and many teachers consider leaving their jobs due to low wages and too much workload.
The Estonian Ministry of Education has composed a work group that will focus on studying what this sector needs to reorganise the school network.
The government’s plan includes, among other things, the closure of one-tenth of Latvia’s schools in the next four years.
However, if reduction of the number of schools was enough to resolve the problems that exist in the education sector, then we have to conclude that Latvia may reach Estonia’s level fairly soon.
According to official statistical data from the Ministry of Education and Science, in 2021/2022 school year there were 660 general education day schools in Latvia: 138 in Riga, 100 in Kurzeme region, 82 in Latgale region, 44 in Riga region, 127 in Vidzeme region, and 76 Zemgale region. There are 429 schools in regions (including juvenile correctional facilities), among which there are small countryside schools.
In Large cities, Riga not included, there are 93 general education day schools. Statistical data from the ministry indicates the number of schools has under gradual reduction for years (except for the period between 2012 and 2014, when there were 807 schools in the country). While in 1998/1999 school year there were 1 074 schools in the country, then it should not be difficult to conclude that over the last 23 years a total of 414 schools have been shut down. These include 50 elementary schools, 265 primary schools and 13 special education institutions.
The hopes of the closure of small schools helping to fill vacant teacher posts in large schools never came to pass. Many teachers of pension age simply decided to retire after the closure of their schools. Data from the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia indicates that in 2012 there were 23 230 teachers employed in general education institutions. In 2021 there were 21 204 teachers.
In Estonia there are 521 general education facilities that have more than 14 000 teachers. [Let’s not forget that as of the 1st of January 2023 there were 1 357 739 residents in Estonia and Latvia had 1 875 575 in 2022]. Reduction of the number of schools in Estonia was an important step, but not the only one. At the same time, while trying to improve the quality of education, Estonia was also trying to reduce social and economic inequality in accessibility of education.
Additionally, «the reorganisation of Estonia’s school network from the very beginning was discussed in a much wider context. The goal to ensure quality education and appropriate environment was always in sight, as was provision of material and technical resources, as well as attraction of qualified specialists and assistants,» as mentioned in the review by Saeima’s analytical service researcher V. Valtenbergs on the topic of Estonia’s experience in letting the state take over secondary schools.
A successful school reform is unlikely to have landed in Estonia like manna from heaven. All of it requires appropriate funding, but Latvia, according to OECD Education at a Glance 2022 review, spends on formal education less than average when compared with other OECD member states.
If OECD spend an average of approximately EUR 10 032.35 on a single student in primary school and EUR 11 525.63 in secondary school, for Latvia these numbers reach EUR 6 940.65 and EUR 7 975.94 respectively.
It is one of the lowest funding amounts among OECD member states.
Without a doubt, the education system and teachers’ wages have to be reorganised finally. But we would like to see an economically justified plan jointly developed by the state and municipalities to help optimise the school network properly and reasonably. How to reduce the gap between the large schools and smaller countryside schools? How are we supposed to attract new qualified teachers?
In the end, we want to see more explanations as to what the Minister of Education and Science Anda Čakša wants to see from a ‘child-focused and efficient’ school network.
Also read: Teachers in Latvian municipalities with «non-reformed school network» will have lower wages