Training
The school system in Latvia goes back to the
establishment of a judicial school in Riga 1211. In 1590,
the first school was founded with Latvian as the language of
instruction. With the Reformation, teaching was extended to
the broader population stores, but it was only in Livland,
during the Swedish era, that the foundation was laid for an
actual primary school. In 1630, at Gustav II Adolf's
command, a school was established in Riga. Around 1800, 2/3
of the population is estimated to have been literate, and in
1817 a two-year compulsory school was established. As
Russian became the dominant language of instruction in the
1880s, the general literacy deteriorated again, but
illiteracy never reached the levels prevalent in the other
parts of Russia. See TOPSCHOOLSINTHEUSA for TOEFL, ACT, SAT testing locations and high school codes in Latvia.
At independence after World War I, compulsory education
between the ages of 6 and 16 was introduced. During the
Soviet era, the educational system was characterized by the
same conditions as in the rest of the Union, with a strong
central control of syllabuses and textbooks. As in the other
Soviet Union, there was also an investment in an elite,
while education and teaching for children with special needs
were often neglected. In post-Soviet Latvia, the first nine
grades are compulsory, after which students can move on to
vocational schools of 2–4 years or to theoretical colleges
in 3 years. After independence, teaching was taught in both
Latvian and Russian at all levels. The Latvian
nationalization policy has since focused on strengthening
the Latvian language at the expense of, above all, Russian.
Since 2004, at least 60% of all teaching must be in Latvian,
even in schools dominated by Russian-speaking students. The
number of Russian-oriented schools has steadily declined
during the 1990s. The language issue remains highly infected
in Latvia, and has left its mark on the school political
discourse. Some elementary education is also conducted in
the other national minority languages Polish, Ukrainian,
Lithuanian, Belarusian, Estonian, Yiddish and Romani. A
majority (66% in 2009) of those with a high school diploma
go on to one of the country's more than 20 colleges. and has
left its mark on the school political discourse. Some
elementary education is also conducted in the other national
minority languages Polish, Ukrainian, Lithuanian,
Belarusian, Estonian, Yiddish and Romani. A majority (66% in
2009) of those with a high school diploma go on to one of
the country's more than 20 colleges. and has left its mark
on the school political discourse. Some elementary education
is also conducted in the other national minority languages
Polish, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Belarusian, Estonian,
Yiddish and Romani. A majority (66% in 2009) of those with a
high school diploma go on to one of the country's more than
20 colleges.
During the 1990s, higher education, both organizationally
and in terms of syllabuses and degrees, was reshaped, in
accordance with Western European role models. In addition to
the University of Latvia (founded in 1919), Riga has a
technical university that dates back to the 1862 Polytechnic
Institute, as well as several specialized colleges and
academies. The latter include technical and artistic
institutions, but also among other things. The Swedish
School of Economics in Riga paid for it with Swedish funds.
The Agricultural University was founded in 1939 and is
located in Jelgava. Daugavpils and Liepāja have teacher
colleges, the latter since 1993 with the status of
educational university. New state colleges were established
in the 1990s in Rēzekne and Ventspils, while the local
authorities in Vidzeme established a university in Valmiera.
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