Translation of national minority schools into Latvian (Latvia)

On 6 October 2017, the Minister of Education and Science Karlis Šadurskis announced the transition to the teaching of general subjects in secondary school only in Latvian. ^{[3] [4]} On October 9, the ruling coalition expressed support for its proposals. ^[five]

On November 10, the ministry submitted a report on the planned reform to the government ^[6] , on December 5, the government took note of the report and commissioned the ministry to prepare draft amendments to the laws on education and on general education, as well as new standards for general education and pre-school education. ^[7]

On December 7, the government introduced a draft amendment to the Law on Education (Bill No. VSS-1280 ^[8] ), which expressed the essence of the reform. January 23 project approved by the government. ^[9]

On January 31, the bill was submitted to the parliament for consideration by the government and registered under No. 1128 / Lp12 on March 22 adopted in the third reading by 58 votes to 18 ^[10] , on April 2 signed by the president. ^[eleven]

In the annotation ^[12] to the draft law it is written that secondary education in the state language will give “representatives of national minorities the opportunity to receive a quality education that will contribute to the further successful continuation of their education and inclusion in the labor market, while preserving their native language and culture, for example, choosing them as subjects at school or in extracurricular activities. " The Free Latvians World Association, which supported the plans of the Ministry, writes that education should be conducted in the state language from the earliest possible age, because bilingual education contributes to the existence of bicommunity in the country. ^[13]

The Minister of Education and Science Karlis Šadurskis describes the reform as follows:

Yes, this is a purely political decision (but we ourselves do not hide it). At the same time, there are no elements of discrimination in it, since there are reasonable transitional periods. It is guaranteed that, if the students and their parents desire, to preserve their ethnic basis: to learn their native language, literature, everything related to traditions and culture

- ^[14]

The Chairman of the Committee of Experts for the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages Vesna Třnich-Grotich in June 2018 spoke of the situation as follows: “This is unacceptable if judged from the point of view of the Language Charter. But again, Latvia has not ratified it. ” ^{[15] The} Latvian member of the UN Human Rights Committee Ilze Brands-Kehris believes that the reform was not based on comprehensive research, and therefore may be contrary to the Framework Convention . The fact that the new proportions were not discussed properly with the national minorities themselves, testifies, in her opinion, that all the deputies representing the national minorities voted against the amendments - “This is not a good sign.” ^[sixteen]

The former chairman of the Advisory Committee of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, Francesco Palermo, said:

This is a rather unfortunate reform. It continues the trend that emerged during the previous reform, which reduced the number of lessons in Russian in primary and secondary schools. The current proportion in secondary school is 60% of classes in Latvian and 40% in minority languages. Now in high school all education will be conducted in Latvian. This, of course, is problematic (..) In the worst case, the sense of marginalization of the Russian-speaking minority in the country may increase. This is bad not only for a minority, but also for the indigenous population. If the minority does not feel at home, it is always fraught with problems. I am afraid that now it is too late, because the reform project has already been signed by the president of the country. But there is still time before it comes into force, to work on the details with the involvement of the Russian-speaking population of Latvia. This is the only way out.

- Deutsche Welle ^[17]

Former Minister of Education and Science Robert Kilis assessed the actions of his successor as follows:

To translate schools into Latvian is not a reform. This is a person’s insanity in the search for lost time from the books of Marcel Proust (..) I am very glad that I myself stopped all this in 2011–2012 and gave some time to consider possible options. I hope these options are understood. But this transition is nonsense. I understand that a little infantile debate with the current minister, but this is nonsense.

- Robert Kilis ^[18]

According to a survey conducted by SKDS in June 2018, 51% of Russian-speaking citizens do not support the "education reform", and another 24% are neutral to it. Among Latvian-speaking respondents, 62% agree with these actions. ^[nineteen]

Freedom House, in its annual report, made a forecast that “Interethnic friction will escalate as the government implements school reform, which significantly reduces the hours of teaching in non-Latvian language in public schools” ^[20] .

The chairman of the trade union of education and science workers Inga Vanaga stated that language school reform is practically impossible to implement in the form and under the conditions that exist in Latvia today, and the trade union warned the government about this. ^[21]

Denis Klukin, director of Riga Rinuzh Secondary School, in one case stated that “the basis of language reform in national minority schools is the correct idea, but it is implemented by methods that are not justified both pedagogically and organizationally” ^[22] , in the other that “This is a planned the way of squeezing Russian-speaking children from Latvia. Such a political move is to create an extremely uncomfortable situation ” ^[23] .

Street protests in Riga against these changes in the law were held with the participation of the Headquarters for the Protection of Russian Schools and the Russian Union of Latvia on October 23 (about 500 participants, according to BBC ^[24] ), on November 16 (about 1000 participants, according to Bi - BBC ^[25] ) and December 14 (about 4,000 participants, as estimated by the organizers ^[26] ) of 2017, February 8, March 10, April 4, May 1 (about 5,000 participants, according to police estimates ^[27] , about 10,000, according to the organizers ^[28] ), June 2 (more than 4,000 participants, according to Euronews assessment ^[29] , nearly 5000 organizers estimated ^[30] ), September 15, 2018 (according to the original wo scheniyam police - about 5000 participants for its subsequent reports approximately 2500 ^[31] ). In addition, on March 31, 2018 a conference was held in Riga - “The All-Latvian parent meeting ” ^[32] , and on June 1 - a rally in Daugavpils (about 300 participants, according to din.lv ^[33] ; it was initially refused by the Daugavpils Council , but the refusal was successfully appealed in court ^[34] ).

In the fall of 2017, the collection of signatures for two petitions was launched at the manabalss.lv portal - for the preservation of bilingual education and for the free choice of training languages. The collection of signatures for the second petition was terminated by the administration of the portal. ^[35] Under the first petition in two weeks, more than 10,000 signatures were collected. ^[36] Part of the signatures - from persons with no Latvian citizenship or under the age of 16 years - was declared invalid, and the collection of signatures was resumed. ^[37] In January 2018, a petition was submitted to parliament with 14,206 signatures. ^[38] 12,503 signatures of Latvian citizens were recognized as suitable; the petition was rejected by the Sejm on March 1, by 64 votes to 22. ^[39]

The Latvian Security Police in their public report for 2017 ^[40] in the section on Russian politics of compatriots publishes photos of protest actions against the bill and writes that:

The most significant event in the field of “protecting the rights” of Russian compatriots last year was protest actions against the gradual transition to Latvian as a language of instruction in general education institutions and related actions, such as petitions, calling for a halt to changes or a change in the organization of minority education. According to PB, the leader of the RSL, Tatyana Zhdanok , together with party members and other allies, is trying to polarize and split Latvian society, using the absurd argument that violent assimilation of Russian speakers is allegedly planned in Latvia.

Original Text (Eng.)

The compatriots have been the most significant development in the past year. halted or be reformed. I think that it’s not a problem.

Prime Minister Maris Kuchinskis said that the Security Police received information about some “extremely anti-state activities” related to actions of protest against the reform of national minority schools. ^[41] On April 18, 2018, the Security Police commenced criminal proceedings on the All-Latvian Parent Assembly under the Criminal Code article “Crimes against the state” and other articles; she also promised to evaluate the procession on May 1 as part of this process. ^[42] At the end of April 2018, Alexander Gaponenko was detained in this case, and on May 8, 2018, V.I. Linderman . Both were detained with brutal use of force. The District Court initially applied detention to them, but the District Court, following a complaint from lawyer Linderman, replaced it with a set of other preventive measures. ^[43] A. Gaponenko was also released from custody.

In 2018, the Green faction - the European Free Alliance in the European Parliament ^[44] , 115 deputies from different factions ^[45] and the Federalist Union of European National Minorities ^[46]

In June 2018, deputies of the Seimas from the “ consent Center ” appealed the amendments to the Law on Education to the Constitutional Court. The court in July accepted the case for consideration in part of the issues raised by deputies. ^[47] In April 2019, the court decided that the changes relating to public schools comply with the constitution; The issue of private schools was allocated for consideration in a separate legal process. ^[48]

The US State Department in December 2017 expressed confidence that “the Latvian government takes into account all aspects of the issue, including the proposal to work with minority groups in order to take their concerns into account”. ^[49]

The State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted in April 2018 a statement “On the inadmissibility of the elimination of school education in the languages ​​of the national minorities of Latvia”. ^[50]

The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities declared in June 2018:

^[51] :

I entered into a dialogue with the authorities of Latvia on new educational legislation, but have not yet been able to visit the country. In general, in recent years, my office has popularized Latvia’s approach to education policy among other OSCE participating States, presenting the experience of this country and multilingual education models as an effective tool for the successful integration of pluralistic societies. Now it is changing, and we intend to continue to monitor the impact of these changes on society. In my communication with the authorities of Latvia, including at the highest level, I have always stressed the importance of ensuring that the role of the school in preserving the identity of the minority is not undermined, and that the educational policy is implemented in an inclusive and gradual manner, through careful consultation with all those affected. groups including minorities, educators and parents

Original Text (Eng.)

It is a lawyer in the country. Generally, in recent years, my country has promoted Latvia’s integration policy and societies. This is now a change. In the case of a minority of nationalities, it’s groups, including minorities, educators and parents

Three UN Special Rapporteurs - on minority affairs, on freedom of opinion and expression, and on the right to education - were expressed in January 2018:

^[52] :

... a serious concern about the aforementioned draft amendments to the Latvian Education Act, which, if approved by parliament, will have a negative effect on the protection and promotion of minority rights in Latvia, especially the rights of minority students to education without discrimination in conjunction with the use of their native language and their rights to participate in cultural life. We are concerned that the proposed changes are aimed at eliminating teaching in minority languages ​​at the level of general and vocational secondary education in both public and private educational institutions, and are reducing the proportion of teaching in minority languages ​​in the last three classes of basic school (7th Grade 9) in educational institutions that provide minority education programs. Further, we are concerned that this draft amendment was initiated without prior consultation with Latvian minorities (..) We further express concern that restrictions on the use of minority languages ​​in education are also unnecessary and disproportionate restrictions on the right to freedom of expression.

Original Text (Eng.)

I’m a little bit worried about it. It is a fact that it is not a problem to take part in cultural life. It has been noted that this is the case. basic education (grade 7 to 9) in those educational institutions that implement minority educational programs. Furthermore, it is not necessary to clarify the law. to freedom of expression

The Advisory Committee of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in February 2018 “was particularly concerned about plans to reduce instruction in the languages ​​of national minorities to 20% of lessons per week in 7th and 9th grades and only to lessons of languages ​​and ethnocultural subjects in 10- x-12th grades " ^[53]

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination , assessing in its report in August 2018 the implementation of the relevant international convention in Latvia, expressed concern about the adopted amendments to the laws on education and called for a review of their need ^[54] . ^[55]

• Changes to the Education Act: Latvian text (Latvian) English text (English)
• Infographics