Re:Check reviews education promises from Latvia’s last election

Re:Baltica’s fact-checking project Re:Check has reviewed how much Latvia’s political parties delivered on their education promises from the previous Saeima election, LSM reported. The parties had pledged to substantially raise teachers’ salaries, organise the school network, provide learning materials and double research funding.

The review examined promises made by the five parties that had worked in government over the past four years and therefore had an opportunity to fulfil them: New Unity, the Union of Greens and Farmers, the Progressives, the National Alliance and the United List.

Re:Check used the parties’ 4,000-character programmes published on the Central Election Commission’s website, as well as expanded programmes on the parties’ websites. The promises were assessed as fulfilled, partially fulfilled or not fulfilled.

United List

The United List’s promise to increase funding for education and science as an investment in the country’s growth was assessed as fulfilled. The state budget for general education increased from 32.4 million euros in 2022 to 70 million euros this year.

Funding for research and development rose from 0.76% of gross domestic product in 2022 to 0.93% in 2024.

The promise to significantly increase teachers’ pay was assessed as partially fulfilled. According to data from the Ministry of Education and Science, teachers’ average salary, including supplements, was about 1,330 euros in 2022 and about 1,840 euros per month in the past school year.

Česlavs Batņa, chairman of the Saeima’s Education, Culture and Science Committee and a member of the United List, said teachers’ actual pay in Latvia was lower and that the increase could not be considered significant.

The promise to give special attention to science subjects was also assessed as partially fulfilled. Batņa said the plan had been to make vocational education more attractive through science subjects, but that it “remained an idea” because the United List was not in power.