According to the amendments to the Education Law adopted by the Saeima on Thursday, 9 May, students will be able to refuse to learn Russian as a second foreign language. If a student refuses to learn Russian until June 21, this year, they will be able to learn another foreign language from the next school year.

Students of the 4^th-8^th grade who have refused to learn the Russian language in this academic year will be able to transfer to the next grade without an assessment in the subject of the second foreign language. In turn, for those who are scheduled to finish the 9^th grade this year, an evaluation will be indicated in the basic education student progress report, which will be obtained from the average evaluation obtained in the previous academic years in this subject.

The student’s parents will be able to refuse to learn the Russian language in writing, and the head of the educational institution will have to inform the founder of the institution, who will have to provide the opportunity to learn another foreign language.

According to the authors of the draft law, the amendments aim to implement the transition to a second foreign language in schools, which is one of the official languages of the European Union. Since the war initiated by Russia in Ukraine, the public’s attitude towards Russia as a whole has changed, including the desire to learn Russian, as evidenced by parents’ submissions to the Ministry of Education and Science and schools calling for the teaching of one of the languages of the European Union as a second foreign language in schools.

According to the explanatory note to the draft law, until recently, Russian was the most popular second foreign language in Latvian educational institutions, followed by German and English.

In order to ensure that schools can offer one of the languages of the European Union as a second foreign language, schools will be able to enter into a mutual agreement with another school for the implementation of the requirement.

Students, who have started learning Russian as a second foreign language by 2025/2026, will have the opportunity to continue it until the end of the 9^th grade, but no longer than until the end of 2029/2030.

The amendments also provide for the inclusion of national defence education in secondary education programmes. It will be possible to implement it outside the regular curriculum, and there will be no grading – the learning achievement will be evaluated in a descriptive way, determining the level of accomplishment.

The amendments to the Education Law will enter into force on the day following their promulgation.

Saeima Press Service