Every citizen of the Republic of Latvia and every person who has the right to a non-citizen passport issued by the Republic of Latvia, every person who has received a permanent residence permit, as well as citizens of European Union memberstates who have been issued a temporary residence permit, and their children, have equal right to acquire education, regardless of their property or social status, race, nationality, gender, religious or political convictions, state of health, occupation or place of residence.
Preparation of five- and six-year-old children for the acquisition of basic education, the acquisition of basic education or continuation of the acquisition of basic education until the age of 18, is compulsory.
Fees for the acquisition of pre-school, basic and secondary education at an institution established by the state or local governments are covered from the state budget or local government budgets in accordance with the procedures prescribed by the Cabinet. A private education institution may determine the fees for the acquisition of education.
Pre-school education programmes are acquired by children up to the age of seven, but preparation of five- and six-year-old children for the acquisition of basic education is compulsory.
The acquisition of basic education is compulsory; it starts in the calendar year when a child turns seven. The compulsory basic education programme content is determined by the state basic education standard. Educatees, upon the acquisition of the general basic education programme, receive a certificate attesting general basic education, and a list of school results.
Anyone, without any age limits, has the right to acquire secondary education programmes, if he/she has a certificate attesting basic education. There are four-direction general secondary education programmes: comprehensive; humanities and social sciences; mathematics, natural sciences and technology; and professionally-oriented ones. The compulsory general secondary education programme content is determined by the state general secondary education standard. Educatees, upon the acquisition of the general secondary education programme, receive a certificate attesting general secondary education, and a list of school results.
A school year is usually 35 weeks long – from 1 September to 31 May (except for educatees of grades 9 and 12). C riteria and procedures for the evaluation of the acquired education are set in the state education standards. Each general education institution can implement one or more licensed education programmes, including education programmes for ethnic minorities. Education can be acquired in several forms, usually by attending full-time schools (day and evening shift), but there are also extramural education programmes. An individual can also choose to become an external student.
In the school year 2007/2008 Latvia’s comprehensive day schools are attended by 250,941 Latvian, Russian, Ukrainian, Romany, Jewish, Estonian, Lithuanian, Polish, German and other nationalities children and youth.
Special types of general education are: special education, social correction and pedagogical correction.
General education1
- General education2
- Level of pre-school education
- Level of general basic education
- Level of general secondary education
- Special education
- Education for ethnic minorities
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Establish a private education institutiton |
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PISA 2006 Assessment |
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TIMSS, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study |
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PIRLS 2006 |
