Education and Science, Latvia

 This year, 20 less schools have opened their doors for the new school year when compared to last year. 9 schools were closed before the beginning of the new school year, while 3 preschool education institutions were terminated. 22 schools were reorganized as well as three preschool establishments. The reorganized institutions were either combined together or their education level was changed.

Approximately 21,100 first-graders will experience their very first day of school today, according to the Education and Science Ministry's estimates. This number is less than the year before when 22,262 children entered school for the first time.

In total, 203,770 pupils will study in secondary education institutions, which is around 1,000 pupils more than in 2015.

However, the exact number of pupils in education institutions will be known in September, since pupils tend to change their institutions even during the first weeks of studying.

Around 80 schools in Latvia have less than 50 pupils, but the absolute record-low has been registered in an elementary school which has just two pupils, Latvian Education and Science Minister Karlis Sadurskis (Unity) said on the LNT television on Thursday morning.

He said that additional EUR 47 million will be granted for the education sector this year therefore "it is up to us to optimize the school network" in order to ensure decent pay to teachers.

He said the exact amount of remuneration for individual teachers would be determined after September 5 when all data about the pupils will be registered.

After three-year long preparation work, the Latvian government on July 5 adopted the new teachers’ wage model that will come into force on September 1 this year. The new model provides that the minimum teachers wage is raised from EUR 420 to EUR 680 a month. Due to the shortage of resources, the new minimum rate will be introduced gradually on different levels of education.