
Education and Science


Education and Science

Education and Science

The European Space Agency (ESA) has published an invitation to tender for the development of an Earth Observation (EO) Baltic Platform for Governmental Services, with a total budget of 900,000 euros.

May 22 is the last day to apply for the upcoming HackCodeX hackathon, which will take place June 3-5 and is being run by Helve.

A survey "Teachers' voice" on how teachers feel and see themselves in the profession has been carried out in Latvia for the second time. The survey data, published on May 18, show that in 2022, the number of teachers who do not feel good in their job and are planning to leave has risen significantly.

The Latvian Education and Science Workers' Trade Union (LIZDA) is still not satisfied with the calculations of the Ministry of Education and Science (IZM) in relation to the fulfillment of the requirements of the teachers' strike, Latvian Television reported on May 18.

According to the results of the 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), Latvian fourth-grade students' reading achievements have deteriorated since the previous study carried out in 2016.

Students of higher education institutions established in the Baltic States are invited to submit papers for the annual Competition of Student Scientific Research Papers announced by Latvijas Banka, the Latvian central bank, by 29 May.

Since teachers in Latvia have had to pass the official – Latvian – language proficiency tests, 15 teachers have lost their jobs permanently or temporarily in Liepāja, Kurzeme Television reported on May 11.

There's good news for fact-checkers, number-crunchers and data-downloaders with the publication of a new 'Statistics in Brief 2023' brochure, in English, from the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB).

As of September 1, schools which have taught in Russian so far will have to gradually transition to teaching solely in the state official language – Latvian. Not much time is left to prepare. The readiness among different schools varies, Latvian Radio reported on May 2.

Despite the fact that Latvia has a border with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south and the countries share a great deal in terms of history and culture, there is currently little appetite for learning the Estonian or Lithuanian languages, reported LTV May 1.

This year, compared to last year, far more pupils about to graduate high school choose to take biology, physics, and chemistry as their elective exams, said the State Educational Content Center on April 26.

The three-day teacher strike ended on Wednesday, so on Thursday, April 27, teachers will return to work, Inga Vanaga, head of the Latvian Education and Science Workers Union (LIZDA), said in the “Today's Question” program of Latvian Television on Wednesday evening.

On Wednesday, April 26, the government approved amendments to the Cabinet rules submitted by the Ministry of Education and Science (IZM), granting an additional EUR 4,168,067 for targeted grants to local governments to increase teacher pay.

The Latvian Education and Science Workers' Trade Union (LIZDA) and the government's representatives have reached a conceptual agreement on the increase in teachers' pay, with additional funding of €4.168 million, LIZDA's head Inga Vanaga and Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš (New Unity) said after a meeting on Tuesday, April 25.

More than one million euros will be channelled to Ukrainian refugee children for the organization of various informal education activities, the Ministry of Education and Science (IZM) said on Tuesday, April 25.

In the small town of Krāslava close to the Latvian-Belarusian border, a Polish school has been working for over 30 years. This winter, the municipality decided to close it. While there has been no response from the Education and Science Ministry, the school itself hopes to stay open with the help of Poland. Rus.LSM.lv went to Krāslava to see the situation firsthand.

Having reached no agreement with the government on systematically raising teachers' salaries and balancing their loads, the Latvian Education and Science Workers' Trade Union (LIZDA) starts a three-day strike on Monday, April 24, with more than 19,000 teachers participating, and goes on a protest march in Rīga from the trade union building to the Saeima.

As of September 1, teachers' pay grade will increase, according to amendments to Cabinet regulations adopted at an extraordinary government meeting on April 21. The quality of these amendments is doubted by the Latvian Education and Science Workers' Union (LIZDA), which has decided to launch a three-day strike on 24 April.

At a meeting of the Latvian Education and Science Workers' Union (LIZDA) Council on Thursday, April 20, it was decided to request the resignation of Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš (New Unity), if the government adopts the current amendments to the rules related to the remuneration schedule of the new teachers, LIZDA said.

The average academic achievements of Latvian pupils were growing very rapidly about 15 years ago, but now seem to have stalled. Also, a gap is observed in the academic results of pupils studying in Rīga schools and those outside Rīga, Latvian Television reported on April 20.

The teacher's salary is influenced by a variety of factors, meaning that for the same position, one can be overloaded and underpaid whereas another can work a decent load and get decent pay. Latvian Television met with two physics teachers on April 19, Solveta and Kārlis, with vastly different loads and wages.

On April 18, the government decided to allocate funding of just over 4 million euros to provide Latvian language lessons to Ukrainian civilians taking refuge in the country.

The government on Tuesday, April 18, approved a schedule for increasing teacher pay proposed by the Ministry of Education and Science (IZM).

The Latvian Education and Science Workers' Union (LIZDA) does not intend to abandon its intention to conduct a strike, set to start on April 24, LIZDA's head told Latvian Radio on Monday. Meanwhile the government is planning to adopt the salary-increase plan on Friday, Latvian Television reported on April 17.

The ruling coalition government is indulging in "political theater" in connection with demands put forward by the Latvian Education and Science Employees' Union (LIZDA), the union's leader Inga Vanaga, told Latvian Television's "Morning Panorama" program April 17.

Medical workers will also take part in the planned protest march of the Latvian Education and Science Workers Union (LIZDA), which is scheduled to take place on April 24. Overall, at least 7,500 people could take part, head of LIZDA Inga Vanaga said on April 11.

More than a hundred historians, history students, and representatives of other humanities have sent an open letter to the Ministry of Education and Science, the Saeima, and the Latvian Council of Science, about the critical situation in which history science and other humanities have ended up due to a lack of funding.

A proposal recently emerged in the Saeima to ban schools from conducting entrance exams selecting the highest-achieving students. The discussion sparked controversy in society, following which the Saeima removed the question from its agenda. The Ministry of Education and Science (IZM) indicated on March 30 that the Saeima has in fact made it difficult to organize entrance exams this year, Latvian Radio reported.

At the end of this year, at the Salaspils National Botanical Garden, a new environmental education center, "Botania", is opening its doors. It will allow everyone to explore the plant world and gain knowledge about nature conservation and biodiversity issues, Latvian Television reported on March 30.

A grand total of 1,188 researchers, both young and experienced, from Latvia and abroad, are ready to present their research papers at the five international conferences that are part of Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) Research Week 2023.
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