Multiple organisations have turned to the Ministry of Education and Science and Saeima deputies with a request to find additional funding for the purchase of teaching equipment.
Approximately EUR 9.4 million was allocated for the purchase of teaching equipment this year. The same amount is reserved in the state budget project for 2025. In 2026, however, the reserved amount is approximately EUR 9.1 million.
Organizations are concerned that the lack of funding for the purchase of teaching aids in schools should be provided by municipalities according to their budget options, which are different. If a placeholder does not allow the purchase of a complete set of teaching aids to be covered, students must participate in the learning process without them. This increases inequality in the provision of quality education.
The shortage of teaching equipment also makes things harder for teachers, who are forced to use other, “illegal means” included, such as copying textbooks and test books, breaching copyrights in the process, the letter sent to the Saeima and the ministry mentions.
The authors of the letter call for the obligation to either reallocate funding for the purchase of teaching aids, or allocate these funds now, rather than moving the issue to the next budget cycle.
The letter was signed by the Latvian Trade Union of Education and Science Workers, the Employers’ Confederation of Latvia, the Union of Local Governments of Latvia, the Association of Latvian Education Managers, the publishing house “School Name”, the Association of Riga and Pieriga Municipalities “Riga Metropole” and the Employers’ Confederation of Latvia.
As reported, the public initiative portal “Manabalss.lv” has started collecting signatures in order to develop and adopt amendments to the state budget, providing for a significant increase in funding for the purchase of teaching aids.
Kristīne Liepa, the representative of the initiative, calls for the development of a “clear system” to ensure the availability of funds for all schools and to prevent situations where educators are forced to ask parents to purchase teaching aids.
Similarly, several organizations of teachers and parents, as well as publishing houses of teaching aids, have asked the Ministry of Education and Science to find additional funding for the purchase of teaching aids for Latvian comprehensive schools.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Education and Science Anda Čakša (JV) expressed the opinion that the increase in funding for teaching aids in the current financial circumstances of the country is optimal, as the internal and external security is set as the main priority in the next year’s state budget.