Opinion: Latvia's competency-based education reform under fire after hundreds fail to finish primary school
Columnist Andris Upenienieks argues that blame for over 800 young people failing to complete primary school this year should not fall solely on the current education minister, but on the entire education system and the competency-based reform introduced in 2020. He cites veteran teacher Zenta Klaipa, who says the system needs to be rebuilt from scratch.
Latvian columnist Andris Upenienieks has published an opinion piece addressing why more than 800 young people failed to complete primary school this year, and who should bear responsibility.
He notes that ahead of elections, it is convenient to pin all blame on the newly appointed Minister of Education and Science, Ilze Indriksone, or on Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs. However, he argues the roots of the problem lie further back, in the actions of several previous ministers, including Andris Piebalgs, Kārlis Šadurskis, Ilga Šuplinska, Anita Muižniece, Anda Čakša and Dace Melbārde.
Criticism of the competency-based approach
The central focus of the piece is the competency-based education approach, known as "School 2030", introduced on September 1, 2020. The author considers it a reform pushed through without adequate justification. He explains that competency is theoretically meant to combine knowledge, skills and attitude, but in practice the tools for implementing it are lacking. As examples, he describes "self-directed" learning, where teachers are occupied with administrative tasks while students are left to figure things out on their own, and group work, where in practice only one student out of several actually completes the task.
The author also references Iveta Ratinīka, director of Āgenskalns State Gymnasium, who described the education system as suffering from a "stubborn unwillingness to understand" the underlying issues. He counters that her school selects students through entrance exams, making its situation different from that of an average school.
He also cites Normunds Dzintars, who argues that teachers are often forced to choose between giving a false passing grade or holding a student back a year, which creates conflicts with parents.
Call to rebuild the system
The article closes by quoting veteran teacher and former school director Zenta Klaipa, who over her 46-year career has witnessed repeated reforms without clear results. In her view, the current education system cannot be fixed with partial repairs — it needs to be rebuilt entirely.
