Latvia Chapter 98 Latvia General information Parliament defines the main principles, goals and structure of Latvian education. The Ministry of Education and Science and the local authorities devise and implement the education system. The legal basis of the Latvian education system consists of the Constitution of 1992 and the Education Act of 1991. According to these documents, the residents of Latvia have the right to education irrespective of social and material status, race and ethnicity. The state and the local governments are responsible for carrying out educational policy and the management of schools.
Special attention is given to the language of instruction.
However, the Education Act of 1991 states that the right to an education in one's own language, in accordance with the Language Law, is also available to residents of other nationalities living within in the state, but it is mandatory to acquire the official language, Latvian. There is a considerable number of state schools with instruction in the pupil's mother tongue, whether Russian, Ukrainian, Polish or others, but all pupils are required to study Latvian. The principal aims of the reforms are to gradually introduce principles and teaching methods characteristic of a modern education system, and to provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to meet the requirements and challenges of a free, market-oriented society. The standards define the objectives of each course of study, the curriculum and methods of instruction. A syllabus for each course of study is provided by the Ministry of Education.