14,000 sign initiative for preserving bilingual education

Take note – story published 6 years ago

On January 22 a public initiative with more than 14,000 was sent to the Saeima asking to preserve bilingual education in Latvian schools.

The government will on January 23 review amendments to the Education Law that would see that all general education subjects, or core curriculum, will be taught only in the Latvian language by 2021. Minority students are expected to retain the ability to learn minority languages, literature and cultural and historical subjects in other languages, however.

Jeļena Bačinska, an opponent of the reform and a representative of the initiative collecting signatures, spoke to Latvian Radio about her views on the issue.

"As a parent, I consider it will clearly be an experiment for which my child will pay. I don't want my child to be subject to experiment," she said.

"Several parents who've signed the petition, as do I, think that pupils should know [the state] language.. We're not against it, but studying in a different language is something else completely," she said.

As reported, several protests have been held against the education reform. 

At a previous protest, LSM spoke to one of the organizers, Miroslavs Mitrofanovs of the Latvia's Russian Union party on his views on the subject.

Seen a mistake?

Select text and press Ctrl+Enter to send a suggested correction to the editor

Select text and press Report a mistake to send a suggested correction to the editor

Related articles
Education and Science

More

Most important