Latvia plans to abandon Russian as a second foreign language in schools
Kyiv • UNN
Latvia plans to gradually replace Russian as a second foreign language in schools with one of the official languages of the European Union starting in the 2026/2027 school year.
On Tuesday, April 23, the Latvian government plans to make a decision to gradually abandon Russian as a second foreign language in general education. Instead, it is proposed to study one of the official languages of the European Union or member states of the European Economic Area. This was reported by Delfi, according to UNN.
Details
It is noted that currently, Latvian schoolchildren learn English as the first foreign language from the beginning of their studies, and begin to learn a second foreign language from the end of primary school.
Theoretically, children can learn French, German, and other languages as a second foreign language, but in practice, Russian is most often taught because schools lack teachers of other languages,
According to the Ministry of Education and Science, Russian is taught as a second foreign language in almost half of Latvian schools. In some educational institutions, no alternative to Russian is offered.
The amendments proposed by the Ministry of Education and Science stipulate that starting from the 2026/2027 school year, schools will have to gradually offer students one of the official languages of the European Union (EU) or member states of the European Economic Area (EEA), or a foreign language regulated by intergovernmental agreements on education, as a second foreign language at the level of basic education. Russian is not one of these languages.
