National Alliance proposes making Latvian only instruction language in schools

• Published date: 09 May 2022
• Publication title: LETA

RIGA, May 9 (LETA) - The National Alliance has submitted amendments to the Education Law, which envisage making Latvian the only instruction language in schools, as the alliance's representative Laima Melkina informed LETA.

"Our statehood is based on the Latvian language as the only official language. Transition to education only in Latvian will help unite Latvian society and ensure equal opportunities for every child to receive quality education, be competitive on the labor market, as well as strengthen cohesion of Latvian society in the long term," said the National Alliance's head Raivis Dzintars.

The party explains that the transition to Latvian as the sole instruction language in schools has been ongoing since 2004, when a bilingual education model was introduced in schools and the proportion of the Latvian language was increased at all education levels. Since 2018, there has been a gradual transition to education mostly in Latvian, and in the 2021/2022 school year the process is coming to an end - currently 50 percent to 80 percent of education in minority primary schools is...