For example, it is difficult for ninth-graders to learn chemistry in a foreign language. "We have had children who went to Latvian school but left. Why? Because if they have to solve a maths problem, they do it brilliantly. But when they are asked to say something in Latvian, to explain a law or to tell a theorem, they simply cannot do it," Ludmila Vakalo, head of the Ukrainian-Latvian science and education, sports and culture centre "Volia.LV", told the program.
The association wants to get involved in the issue. The idea of setting up an international Ukrainian school was not supported by the Ministry of Education and Science. Now the association wants to teach children in Riga in Ukrainian. They will also teach Latvian. The municipality has already given them premises.
The language barrier and the possibility to study remotely in their mother tongue are some of the reasons why many Ukrainian parents decide not to take their children to Latvian schools.
According to official data, 3,829 Ukrainian children are enrolled in Latvian schools and kindergartens. It is not known how many live in Latvia but do not attend schools. The UN refugee agency estimates that as many as 72% of children from Ukraine could be out of Latvian schools.
Ukrainians living in Daugavpils are the most likely - more than half - to make this choice. As Marina Isupova, head of the Daugavpils City Education Department, told De Facto, parents explain this by avoiding the extra workload: "They explain that they don't want to overburden their children. They are already overburdened when studying remotely."
The Ministry of Education and Science (IZM) is proposing to introduce compulsory face-to-face primary education for these children from the next school year. It is estimated that 1,800 Ukrainian children will be affected. The Ministry proposes to sort children according to their Latvian language skills and, if they do not have them, to allow them to spend their first year at school learning the language only.
"You can immerse yourself in the language first, learn only the language. And then gradually move on to subjects where you don't need as much language skills. Just socializing and strengthening the language. And then we can move on to the curriculum," says Anda Čakša, Minister of Education and Science (New Unity).
"There are two main challenges with this solution. First, it is very late, we should have had this solution a few years ago. And secondly, there is no clarity at the moment on how many schools and how exactly it will be implemented. If there are pupils, for example, one or two children, will this model even be implemented?" Linda Jākobsone-Gavala, a board member of the association "I Want to Help Refugees", comments on the planned changes.
The draft law on compulsory full-time primary education for Ukrainian refugee children is currently being examined in several committees. As the head of the Saeima's Education Commission told De Facto, there are perceived constitutional risks to such a requirement, as distance education is part of the Latvian education system and should not be denied to Ukrainian children in particular.
