After a three-month summer break, 200,000 pupils return to school on September 1, reported Latvian Television on Tuesday morning.
"Knowledge should be the driver of the economy. It will be the smart and the creative, who will generate the ideas worthy of investments. Better yet, if the school graduates with a responsible attitude would want to start own business and give jobs to other people. Therefore I urge teachers to encourage their pupils to develop entrepreneurial mindset already during their studies at school,” Vejonis said in his congratulatory message to teachers, pupils and parents on September 1, the beginning of the new academic year in Latvia.
School is the place to build a strong and reliable foundation for pursuing ambitious and wisely chosen goals in future, and teachers act as guides and advisers in this process, the Latvian president said.
It is the task of teachers to help their pupils to realize their talents and to inspire children to develop those talents, he said.
„Our tomorrow begins at school. (...) It is largely a key to prosperity of our nation. Latvia’s wealth is educated people therefore the quality of the education system is important. We will succeed in boosting our competitiveness in the world only through courageous decisions concerning the education sector,” Vejonis said.
On September 1, the Latvian president is visiting Madona municipality in eastern Latvia where he lived and went to school as a child. He is expected to visit several local schools during this trip.
The education system will witness some change this year, including the introduction differential exams in physics, chemistry and nature sciences.
Starting this year, the state sponsors free lunch for pupils from grade 1 to 4, while 157 schools will embark on a computer sciences program where pupils will learn navigating the digital space and learn to evaluate the information they encounter and employ it critically.
