Coalition partners split over planned changes to Latvian student assessment
Latvia's Education Ministry has proposed changes to student assessment and centralized exam rules starting next school year, but coalition partners disagree on the approach, with some calling for a delay.
Differing views among Latvia's coalition partners have emerged over changes to the student assessment system proposed by the Ministry of Education and Science (IZM), intended to take effect from the next school year.
The ministry's draft would remove the requirement for a minimum overall score on centralized exams needed to obtain a basic education certificate. However, Education and Science Minister Ilze Indriksone (National Alliance) expressed a different view at a parliamentary committee meeting, saying the threshold should be kept for Latvian language and mathematics exams, as these are core skills, while it could be dropped for the science exam, whose results could instead be used for admission to specific education programs. She noted the final decision rests with lawmakers.
Indriksone based her position on recent exam results: in the past school year, 818 ninth-grade students failed at least one centralized exam and had to repeat the grade. Some of these students can continue in vocational programs, training as caregivers, hairdressers or cook's assistants. She argued the current system has not delivered the expected results over three years and opposed delaying the reform further, though she acknowledged raising the threshold could increase the number of students failing to around 1,500.
Other proposed changes
The reform would also drop the mandatory weighting of summative assessments, letting schools decide how much weight to give each grade. It would expand opportunities for students to improve grades, with minimum numbers of retakes set depending on grade level.
Political disagreement
Agita Zariņa-Stūre of New Unity said her faction had met with the minister but failed to reach agreement on all issues, and reiterated calls to avoid rushing the reform, proposing it be postponed until the 2027/2028 school year in favor of prioritizing a new school funding model. The Union of Greens and Farmers board also rejected a rushed reform, calling for broader public and expert support first. Committee chairman Česlavs Batņa noted that fully implementing the reform may require amendments to education laws, which could be considered during the next parliamentary term.
The government was set to discuss the changes on September 1.
