In the first week after the publication of the initiative on the website of the public initiatives manabalss.lv about 1800 people signed an online petition to reduce the school age in Latvia from the current seven years to six.
Zane Ozola, chairman of the board of the Independent Educational Society, is the author of the initiative. She expressed dissatisfaction with the present activity of the Ministry of Education and Science of Latvia working on a reform, which includes reducing the school age to six years. At the same time, “a number of representatives of the education sectors, teachers, child psychologists, neurologists, child rights authorities, the Minister of Health, the Ombudsman and several educational institutions gave reasoned opinions about why we should not have a compulsory school age of six years “.
According to the initiator of the process, most parents also oppose this idea, as can be seen from various surveys. Starting school at six can lead to lower grades of children and their different emotional, mental and physical disabilities that can persist in adolescence and adulthood.
According to the current legislation, the process of children’s education in Latvia begins at the age of five, when pre-school institutions start to prepare them for primary education, but they begin to go to the first class at the age of seven.
However, despite the arguments, the Ministry of Education and Science has prepared amendments to the Law on Education, which stipulate that children will start their first class of school from the age of six. The ministry noted that this does not mean that six-year-olds will have to “sit at their desks” in a traditional way.
“The proposal stipulates that six-year-olds will be trained in such conditions that correspond to their age,” the ministry said, explaining that lessons will alternate with rest breaks, game processes and outdoor activities
