Seven Bauska schools fall below state enrolment rules

Seven schools in Bauska municipality have fewer pupils than state criteria require this school year, LSM reported. The municipality is co-funding teacher salaries at two of them after the state agreed to continue funding those schools under an exception. That arrangement will last for one year only. In total, 18 municipalities currently contribute to teachers’ salaries.

Skaistkalne Secondary School, in Bauska municipality near the Lithuanian border, is classed as a school in a border area with a high risk of limited access. It is allowed to have fewer pupils than other municipal schools, but its upper-secondary classes, grades 10 to 12, are still three pupils short of the required number. Six pupils are enrolled in grade 11.

“It feels like private lessons, because teachers pay more attention to each of us when there are fewer of us,” student Loreta Pauloviča said. “You can’t hide behind someone when you don’t feel like doing something.”

School director Dzintra Noreika said the nearest alternative is a secondary school in Vecumnieki, 18 kilometres away. She warned that if a pupil leaves for another school, their siblings may follow, putting the school’s primary and lower-secondary classes at risk as well.

Because the school is three pupils short in its upper-secondary grades, the state is providing 83% of the funding needed for teachers’ salaries in those grades. The municipality contributes 1,737 euros a month.