Starting on 1 September all Year 1, 4, and 7 schoolchildren in Riga’s schools that had previously taught ethnic minority curricula will begin their studies in Latvian. The schools are actively preparing for this change, urging parents to follow the news and find out about the experiences of other parents.
Riga Municipality has a few minority schools that have been teaching Latvian curricula to some of their classes. One of those is Riga Secondary School No 34. Parents there reported having chosen to register their children for the Latvian curriculum, emphasising that learning in Latvian would help them integrate faster, and Latvian language skills would make it possible to adapt to life faster.
‘I decided to send my daughter to the Latvian class, because I had a minority curriculum at school myself, and had the Latvian curriculum in Year 12. That took me a lot of work. This is why I chose the Latvian curriculum for the child, so that the children don’t speak separately, in different languages, and can freely participate in various projects and competitions that are held in Latvia,’ Ula’s mother Jūlija thus explained her decision to enrol her daughter in a Latvian-curriculum class.
Riga Municipality currently has 51 schools that teach ethnic minority curricula. Of those, 17 have so far been teaching these curricula exclusively.
Information was prepared by: Sindija Grāvere, Project Coordinator External Communication Division of Riga City Council, e-mail: sindija.gravere@riga.lv