During his meeting with Minister of Education and Science Anda Čakša, Latvia’s President Edgars Rinkēvičs stressed that the quality of education in the country is behind other European Union member states even though the volume of financing provided to the education sector is one of the biggest in the EU.
According to the president, this indicates the need to reorganise the country’s education system.
“This year’s exam results point to a critical situation in the education system. This is also the result of a deficit of teachers, especially in Latvia’s regions. During the reformation of this system, it is necessary to provide sufficient support to various municipalities and teaching staff in order to ensure a sufficient number of teachers of appropriate skill,” explained Rinkēvičs, adding that
“Latvian students should be the ones to benefit from the reform”.
The president also said it is important to work on making sure students are able to receive quality education regardless of their residence or their family’s social status.
During their conversation, Rinkēvičs said the Ministry of Education and Science needs to actively work on enhancing the capacity of higher education and science.
According to him, the country must not deviate from the objective of devoting at least 1.5% of gross domestic product to science.
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