We need to address the language of communication among children in kindergartens, stated the chairman of the Saeima commission, Gunars Kutris, assessing the difficulties of transitioning to education solely in Latvian.
On Wednesday, the commission deputies held an off-site meeting at the 75th Riga Primary School to discuss the difficulties of learning in Latvian. As Kutris noted, the deputies wanted to understand how the "single school" reform is being implemented in practice.
According to him, it was established that schools are still "struggling" due to a lack of teachers capable of effectively teaching in Latvian, while also realizing that not all children understand Latvian. This means that some children have insufficient proficiency in Latvian upon entering school from kindergarten, Kutris explained.
"Attention needs to be paid to how children in preschool institutions communicate with each other in Latvian — how their conversational speech is formed," Kutris outlined the task.
He also noted that the Ministry of Education and Science promised to conduct monitoring to ensure that a teacher or student does not transfer to another school where the requirements are easier and the level is lower.
The Latvian Teacher Fled from Russian Students
It all started with a post by a certain history teacher, Edvarts Krusts, on social media, in which he stated that he resigned from the 13th Riga Secondary School because he did not understand the Latvian language. In other words, he fled from difficulties instead of engaging in the education of a new generation of the Republic of Latvia.
"The gradual transition to teaching only in Latvian has failed, as in almost all classes where I worked, the knowledge of the Latvian language among most students is insufficient to ensure the educational process," Krusts noted, adding that negative attitudes towards the Latvian language in this school are observed not only among children and their parents but also among some educators.
For reference: According to a report by the State Education Service, serious difficulties in learning/teaching in Latvian have been identified in every third school in the country. The main problems are related to the insufficient preparation of teachers to work in a linguistically heterogeneous environment, a lack of willing educators, a shortage of support staff, and other issues.
