The Latvian government plans to make a decision on the gradual abolition of Russian as a second foreign language in educational institutions on Tuesday, April 23
This was reported by Delfi.
According to the Ministry of Education and Science of Latvia, Russian is currently taught as a second foreign language in almost half of Latvian schools, as some of them do not even offer an alternative.
According to the changes proposed by the Ministry of Education and Science, starting in the 2026/2027 school year, schools will have to gradually offer students one of the official languages of the EU or the European Economic Area (EEA) as a second foreign language. Russian is not one of them.
In the 2027/2028 academic year, a second foreign language will be taught in grades five and six, in the 2028/2029 academic year – in grades 5, 6 and 7, in the 2029/2030 academic year – in grades 5, 6, 7 and 8, and in the 2030/2031 academic year – throughout the entire level of basic education (grades 5-9).
At the same time, the draft law was sharply criticized by individuals and various associations, which received more than 300 appeals within two weeks, most of which were directed against the gradual abandonment of Russian as a second foreign language. They stated that the rejection of the Russian language for political reasons is unacceptable.
Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language Taras Kremin said that on July 17, a clause of the media law will come into force that tightens requirements for the use of the state language in Ukrainian-language programs.
