Parliamentarian Edmunds Yurevits (“New Unity”) promptly responded to the information that appeared in the media regarding the decision of the Rezekne self-government to allocate 21,000 euros for the organization of electives in the Russian language.
The deputy of the Seimas was outraged by this act and called on the State Audit Office to assess whether the funds were legally allocated for Russian language classes. In his statement, the politician pointed out that these actions of local authorities directly contradict the policy of the Latvian education system, which is aimed at gradually transferring education only to the state language. E. Jurevics considered this an attempt to belittle the role of the Latvian language, and also suspected self-government of inefficient use of funds.
Well, what can I say? Apparently, the deputy who came to the Seimas on a soft mandate (instead of the deputy acting as a minister) is not aware that the system of transferring schools only to the Latvian language of instruction provides (for the time being!) the opportunity for national minorities to study Russian as an optional course. Moreover, in the adopted law, it is even the duty of the state and local governments to ensure that children representing national minorities study their native language and traditions within the framework of hobby education.
It is a pity that the parliamentarian, instead of trying to win cheap popularity, did not turn to his fellow party member, Minister of Education Anda Chaksha, for clarification.
