Education Ministry has not yet found money for school learning materials next year
Latvia's Ministry of Education and Science admits it has not yet found extra funds to avoid cutting money for pupils' learning materials next year. The amount per pupil could fall from 35.20 to 21.80 euros a year.
Latvia's Ministry of Education and Science (IZM) says it has so far found no additional funds that would let it avoid a cut in state money for pupils' learning materials next year, Latvian Television reports.
How much money is at stake
At present the state allocates 35.20 euros per pupil per year for learning materials. If no extra funds are found, next year this amount could shrink to 21.80 euros. The difference is 13.40 euros for each pupil.
Calls to find the money
In the summer, the teachers' trade union demanded that funds be found for buying learning materials. More than 5,500 parents of schoolchildren are asking for the same on the public initiatives portal.
The ministry's plans
The ministry assures that it will try to resolve the problem with the help of European funds. The source does not specify which programmes the money might come from or when a final decision will be made, so the level of funding for next year remains unclear for now.
The issue affects families with schoolchildren and schools across the country, since the purchase of textbooks and other study materials depends on this sum.
