Education and Science, Latvia
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Thursday, 21.11.2024, 20:32
Constitutional Court to hear complaint about language reform in Latvia's minority schools
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According to the court’s representative Liga Kovalevska, the
lawsuit has been filed by a group of Saeima members from Harmony party.
The applicants argue that the disputed language reform discriminates
ethnic minorities because they unreasonably restrict the use of the native or
family language in education. They also indicate that the reform would
significantly restrict the students and their parents’ choice of the best form
of education and the academic freedom of the students and teachers.
The Constitutional Court has asked Saeima to submit an explanatory letter
containing the legal reasoning behind the reform plan by September 25.
The court has until December 25 to prepare for hearing the complaint.
As reported, on March 22, 2018, the Latvian parliament passed in the
final reading amendments to the Education Law and the Law on General Education
under which schools of ethnic minorities will have to start gradual transition
to Latvian-only secondary education in the 2019/2020 academic year. The
legislative amendments providing for a gradual transition to education in
Latvian in all public schools will be implemented gradually from September 1,
2019, to September 1, 2021.
President Raimonds Vejonis has promulgated the amendments to the
Education Law and the Law on General Education.
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