3rd Conference additional materials

3rd Conference of Parents of Latvia "To Study in the Native Language"

Riga, 14 September, 2002

The third conference of parents

LAShOR held the 3rd Conference of Parents of Latvia in Riga Congress Hall on 14.09.2002. The Conference slogan was 'To study in the native language'. Based on the decisions of the 1st Conference of Parents and 2nd Conference of Parents, LAShOR worked out the mandate for the candidates to the 8th Saeima (Parliament) of Latvia, as well as the draft of amendments to the law on Education and to the Law on General Education. More than 800 people participated in the Conference. The participants voted to support the mandate for the candidates to the 8th Saeima.

The mandate from the parents

Based on the decisions of the 1st and 2nd Conferences of Parents, LAShOR worked out the mandate for the candidates to the 8th Saeima (Parliament) of Latvia, as well as the draft of amendments to the law on Education and to the Law on General Education.

The mandate is as follows:

• to remove from the law on Education the regulations on transference (from 01.09.2004) of the secondary schools to education on the state language only.
• to insert the followingstatements into the Law on Education and the Law on General education:
• the guarantees to obtain both basic and secondary education in the languages of the minorities in Latvia, provided the considerable number of people show their will so that such educational institutions be organized;
• the guarantees to obtain basic and secondary education in Russian, as Russian is the language of the biggest linguistic minority in Latvia;
• the right of the municipalities to choose (based on the motions of school councils and upon co-ordination with the Ministry of Education and Science) the language of teaching in schools;
• the requirement to take into account, while choosing educational programmes, the wishes and opinions of the students and parents, the reculiarities of each school, as well as the schools ability to provide qualified teachers;
• to form a Department of Minorities Education within the Ministry of Education and Science.

The participants of the 3rd Conference of Parents voted to support the mandate for the candidates to the 8th Saeima (Parliament) of Latvia.