Latvia: Transition to Latvian school education ruled constitutional

Latvia’s Constitutional Court has upheld the constitutionality of the transition to school education in Latvian only, LETA reports. The transition follows legislative amendments passed in October 2022. The court found that weekly tuition in minority languages and cultural history sufficiently supports the preservation of minority identities. Earlier, the European Court of Human Rights supported the changes, deeming them necessary for ensuring educational unity and adequate language proficiency for civic participation. Meanwhile, 2,838 school pupils have chosen not to study Russian as a second foreign language, according to the Ministry of Education and Science, LETA reports. Schools must now provide the pupils with the opportunity to learn another foreign language instead.