On February 26, members met with the Minister of Education and Science to discuss her priorities for the coming year as well as bridging the education and skills gap to keep pace with the changing needs of the economy.

The top priority is improving the overall quality of education. According to the recent OECD study, Latvia is quite successful in ensuring an average quality of education. “In order to be sustainable and competitive, we must improve our education system,” the Minister said. Among other priorities she named accessibility and efficiency which includes consolidating schools, reforming remuneration of teachers and introducing a new funding model for higher education.

Ms. Seile concluded her remarks by quoting the most famous Latvian poet Rainis: "We are little offspring. We will be as great as our will." She went on to say, "The readiness to challenge ourselves is needed to improve the level of education from average to excellence. We should have higher expectations and higher demands. More financing is not the sole solution; efficiency and higher demand for a quality education is needed from the society." 

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