President of Latvia proposes to withdraw the questionable regulation about expulsion of aggressive kids from schools before adoption of the new Education Law

President of Latvia Egils Levits sent his comments to Saeima Education, Culture and Science Committee on 11 October. In his letter, Egils Levits urges Committee to give a thorough consideration to inclusion of questionable regulation about expulsion of kids who are emotionally and physically violent towards others due to various reasons from schools before the third reading of the new Education Law.

According to proposed amendments, violent kids will have to switch to homeschooling. President Levits believes that such regulations would actually disrupt the education process as homeschooling is an option that would likely not be available to these children.

President Levits is alarmed about overwhelming vocal objections and critique towards the regulations drafted by the Committee from the Ombudsman of the Republic of Latvia, Ministry of Justice, State Inspectorate for the Protection of Children’s Rights, various NGOs and experts who have been corresponding with the Committee.

‘We have to work together to help schools deal with emotional and physical violence between children. Schools must be safe for all children and ensure high standards of education. However, as a society, we should not prematurely give up on children who are more inclined to emotional and physical aggression. They too need support and help in getting education and learning vital social skills required to overcome aggression and become fully integrated in society. That should be our common goal,’ says the letter signed by President Levits.

This is an extremely complex issue and there are no quick and easy solutions, President thinks. According to Egils Levits, Committee should keep working and carefully analyse all possible alternatives, follow the guidance of competent bodies and experts before presenting a truly sustainable and well-informed proposals. The law’s explanatory note and/or minutes of the Committee sessions should detail the arguments for choosing one or another solution over other proposals to avoid ending up with the same initial regulation that is being challenged, President of Latvia suggests.

Letter of Egils Levits, nevertheless, praises the Commission for the suggested wording for Article 10¹ of the Education Law . President believes that proposed regulation will allow Latvia to achieve that school graduates in Latvia are better versed and aware of fundamental values defining our society, such as human life, dignity, freedom, family, marriage, work, nature, culture, Latvian language and Latvian State. Such regulation would compensate for civic education gaps identified across schools.