5,000 people took to the streets of Riga under the slogan "Hands away from Russian schools!" They are protesting the decision of Latvia's Ministry of Education to teach classes in middle school only in Latvian. Even though Russian is used by one third of all educational institutions in the country.
Darya Grigorova talked to those who don't want to forget their roots.
“Hands away from Russian schools! Hands away from Russian schools!” 5,000 people. It's been a while since Riga has seen such a massive protest. Flashlights, phone screens — the organizers asked people to bring any source of light.
In this metaphorical way, they are hoping to enlighten the Latvian government. The protest also got an appropriate name — "A Ray of Light in the Dark". On the dark side of the Force is Kārlis Šadurskis who suggests that students' mother tongue — Russian, Polish and Ukrainian — be used only for teaching language, literature, culture and history. The new system is planned to take effect in 2020.
Even schoolchildren themselves took to the streets: "We are just being discriminated". "You can't study properly in Latvian". "You see, our program is difficult as it is. And it's twice as hard to learn in Latvian. Especially since a lot of kids haven't learned the language at an early age".
Today, in the so-called schools for national minorities not more than 40% of the subjects can be taught in Russian. Riga Secondary School 34 also abides by these rules.
Previously, even final exams could be taken in Russian. But the rules are changing, starting this year. The school headmaster, Natalya Rogalyova, hopes that the reform won't go any further.
Natalya Rogalyova, Headmaster: "It's the right of every national minority to study their native language and culture, including academic language. So you can argue that if children do well in their exams in Latvian after 12th grade, there's no reason to ban teaching physics, or chemistry, or math, or anything else in Russian. Let them choose the language".
But for ‘Black Kārlis’, as people nicknamed the Minister of Education, the fight against Russian schools seems to be his life's work. He first proposed to make all education in the official language in 2004. But back then, public pressure made the government agree to a compromise.
Now, in the run-up to the parliamentary election, the minister's remembered Russian schools.
Says an activist Denis Fyodorov: "They drive a wedge between people and pitch them against each other. Meanwhile, they prosper. It's a feast in time of plague. It's in the government's interests. So why do we need a government that benefits from people turning on each other?"
Russian is native for the 40% of the Latvian population. 56,000 children go to Russian schools. The participants of today's demonstration promise to keep the protest alive to stop the light of Russian education in Latvia from going out.
Darya Grigorova and Anton Chagaev. Vesti from Riga.
