Employers’ group urges Latvia to introduce ninth-grade science exam

The Latvian Employers’ Confederation is urging the government not to postpone the introduction of a science exam for ninth-grade students, LSM reported. The organisation supports introducing the exam in the current academic year, its director general, Kaspars Gorkšs, said in an interview with Latvian Television’s Rīta Panorāma programme.

Gorkšs said the decision to include the exam in education requirements had been made eight years ago. He said the issue had now become stuck in a cycle of pre-election debates.

Several compromises have been reached in the discussions, he said. One proposal is to use the exam results to assess the current situation rather than as the sole measure of education quality.

“The exam alone will not improve quality, but it will provide a real picture of students’ knowledge in this subject and what is needed to improve the results,” Gorkšs said.

Planned education standard changes included introducing a centralised science exam in the ninth grade. The government has postponed consideration of the issue.

Under the planned arrangements, ninth-grade students would receive certificates if they passed their subjects, while the results of centralised exams would not be taken into account when issuing the certificate. The results would continue to matter when students enter an educational institution at the next stage of their education.