Free Education - Myths and Realities

As the new school year approaches, the question of purchasing school materials becomes pressing, and to what extent basic and secondary education in Latvia is actually free, since by various estimates the sum that must be spent to prepare one pupil can reach up to 200 Ls.

Article 112 of the Constitution states that everyone has the right to education. The state ensures the possibility of receiving basic and secondary education free of charge. Basic education is compulsory.

Article 1, Clause 4 of the Education Law states that education is the process of acquiring systematised knowledge and skills and forming attitudes, and the result thereof. The educational process includes teaching and upbringing activities. The result of education is a person's totality of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Meanwhile, Article 2 states that the goal of a general education school is to create conditions for the formation of a creative, comprehensively educated personality, for pupils' continuous continuation of education, for mastering a profession, and for independent orientation in public and state life.

Although the Constitution stipulates that everyone has the right to obtain basic and secondary education free of charge, one must also understand that the educational process is not only the transmission of knowledge but also the formation of skills and attitudes, as well as upbringing work.

History.

Skipping the twists and turns of education's development in ancient times, let us pause on the Soviet-era education system - or rather, the era that school children's parents or grandparents remember and cite as a model. In broad strokes, the educational process in Soviet times did not differ in any significant way. There were likewise textbooks provided by the school and school materials that parents had to purchase in a timely manner, there were class evenings and class excursions. There were no subject workbooks, but there was a compulsory uniform, a neckerchief and a badge, which also had to be bought by the parents. Notebooks, drawing paper, paints, stationery, sportswear and footwear, a school bag and other small items - both then and now - must be purchased by the families themselves. Excursions, it is true, were mostly local in scope and often made with a bus "arranged" through connections from some organisation. There were no photocopiers, so a great deal was simply written out and copied by hand.

In small-town and rural schools, for approximately a month pupils went not to school but to work on collective farms, receiving quite a small amount of money for this. There was also summer practice of approximately 2 weeks during which pupils participated in various tasks, of course for nothing. There were also school and class duty rosters, which in some form have survived to the present day.

Graduation ceremonies with generously laid tables and live music are gradually becoming a thing of the past. The new-era phenomenon of "we won't pay for anything" is limited to the ceremonial part and a brief chat with school staff afterwards. Because if nothing is paid for, there will be no live music - there will be no music of any kind either, as a public performance licence must be paid for - there will be no flowers, no tables, no gift for the teacher. But a few lats will have been saved and there will be no memories.

In any case, parents' understanding that school is not only a place for acquiring education but also an important social environment was considerably greater. To say nothing of parental participation in its various forms of expression.

Recent History

Recent history began in the nineties, caused by two phenomena: the adoption of European values (modern teaching) and photocopiers. As copying out assignments and other factual information suddenly became an unnecessary remnant of the educational process, teachers turned to photocopying materials. The first subjects to fall under the charm of the photocopier were foreign languages. It seemed very modern to photocopy material from the internet or some other resource. Furthermore, old textbooks seemed utterly "old school", while new ones were expensive (and were photocopied). The next copier sinners were primary schools (Grades 1–4). Naturally, the school budget was not prepared for the growing volume of paper use, and so the idea arose of purchasing paper from the class fund money.

For a textbook to become one, it must pass reviews, serve for a time as an experimental teaching aid, and receive approval from the Ministry of Education and Science. Possibly in order to promote competition in educational literature, the Ministry of Education and Science permitted a situation where several textbooks from different publishers were issued for the same subject curriculum. As a result, along with a change of teacher, the textbook often changed as well, leading to a situation where the school in practice needed to purchase books from all publishers. To make matters worse, these were often accompanied by workbooks, and a decision was made that the workbooks should indeed be purchased by the parents themselves.

As a result, already in May when planning the next school year, each subject teacher submits to the curriculum coordinator a list of the required educational literature (so-called workbooks). Comparing the list against the library holdings, those learning materials that parents must provide themselves remain. A noteworthy fact is that teacher turnover is approximately 5% per year and in most cases teachers announce their decision either in June or in August. When a teacher changes, the textbooks they are accustomed to working with often change as well, and the school management is placed before a dilemma: yield to the teacher's demands or be left without a teacher.

School Expenses

The expenditure categories that parents must reckon with are approximately as follows:

1. Purchase of educational literature (books).
2. Purchase of learning materials (workbooks, stationery, etc.).
3. Class fund money.

It is hard to judge how objective textbook prices are; the fact that co-owner of Zvaigzne ABC, V. Kilbloka, is a millionaire raises various thoughts and theories. To reduce the price of textbooks, they are mostly printed in paperback. Collecting them over time is apparently no longer the custom, which means such books have a very short lifespan.

One can debate whether workbooks are necessary or not. This would be the category where savings could be made, if only parents truly want to return to times when the greater part of a lesson was spent mechanically copying out assignments.

Evidently the most debated question is class fund money. Contrary to the belief that this money is pocketed by the class teacher, it is used to pay for paper for photocopying, excursions, museums, expenses related to class and school events, expenses related to class decorations and themed class evenings, as well as many other small items from which one could theoretically also opt out.

The topic of money at school has always been a sensitive one. Parents either resign themselves to it or talk around it, fearing that their child will not be viewed favourably by the class teacher and school management. One must conclude that legally such collection of money is not particularly legitimate, but there is also no alternative for solving the problem or legalising the process. It would be most interesting to await the Ombudsman's opinion, as well as an explanation of precisely what the Constitution means by free education.

One very much hopes that a reasonable solution to the problem will be found and it will not be the case that any extracurricular activities are cut at the root and the educational process degenerates into dry lectures, depriving children of the opportunity for social development and self-improvement. As it is mostly parents of quite well-off children who choose to voice a loud public stance on these issues - let it not turn into a disservice done with good intentions, hiding behind the justification: "I was just looking out for everyone's best interests".