New Rucava school principal sees community centre future

Rucava Basic School in South Kurzeme Municipality will begin the next school year with 47 pupils, making it one of Latvia’s smallest schools, LSM reported. The school’s new principal, Līga Jaunzeme, sees it developing into a community centre.

Located near the Lithuanian border, the school will have all nine grades, with an average of about five pupils per class. Only two children will start first grade. An average of two children are born in Rucava each year.

The school has retained its status as a full basic school after local politicians promised to preserve it ahead of elections and persuaded the responsible ministry to grant it so-called accessibility status. The designation serves as protection against closure.

However, some parents drive their children to a school in a neighbouring parish, using their own vehicles or transport provided by the municipality because they want what they consider a better future for them.

The declining number of pupils and uncertainty about the school’s future have coincided with a change in its leadership. Jaunzeme, who previously ran a kindergarten and the residents’ council, has become the new principal.

From September 1, Rucava Basic School will be merged with Rucava’s Zvaniņš preschool education institution, which is already combined with the Purenīte preschool in Sikšņi, in neighbouring Dunika Parish.

Jaunzeme said the school and preschool together would have about 88 children, although the number could still change before the start of the school year. The school itself has 47 pupils, with seven or eight pupils in most classes.

She said the leadership change was part of a planned reorganisation launched by South Kurzeme Municipality. The process was intended to reorganise services efficiently and reduce administrative costs. An audit of each institution assessed its documents, operations and management efficiency before the decision was announced on April 30.