Budget, Education and Science, Latvia

As reported, the Finance Ministry has proposed a draft decision, withdrawing state support to free lunches for grade 1-4 pupils starting from January 1, 2020, entrusting this functions to local governments.

Reirs said that this proposal has been drawn up after it was concluded that the state is funding functions of local governments. One of such functions was free lunches at schools.

"Our proposal is that local governments should finance free lunches at schools, besides, the financing should be targeted - free lunches should be ensured to those who really need them, not to everyone. If we ensure state support to all residents without assessing their financial situation, it should be understood that the state and local governments do not have that much money. Therefore we propose to improve the system," the minister said.