In addition to more generous social benefits, Latvian parents have one more reason to declare their children in Estonia - there you can still get education in Russian

In addition to more generous social benefits, Latvian parents have one more reason to declare their children in Estonia - there you can still get education in Russian

RIGA, Sep 9 - Sputnik. In the last academic year, 323 young Latvian citizens attended Estonian educational institutions, and nearly 200 chose schools offering programs in Russian, the Personal Broadcast of Russian Broadcasting LTV7 reports.

In 2018, Latvian citizens became the third largest group of immigrants to Estonia after Ukraine and Russia. The increase in the number of Estonian residents with Latvian citizenship amounted to 539 people, and 6 Latvian citizens were born in Estonia. In total, at the beginning of 2019, 647 Latvian citizens under the age of 19 lived permanently in Estonia.

The Priimets primary school in Valga was formerly called the Russian Gymnasium, but then a reform was carried out, and now children from the first to the ninth grade are studying here, says the school principal Marina Krotova.
Classes are divided into two parallels. The parallel “A” is the so-called Russian classes: the training is mainly conducted in Russian, subjects such as music, physical education, art are taught in two languages. Parallel B is full immersion classes: 100% instruction in Estonian.

A year ago, a teacher from Latvia hired a school teacher. In Latvia, she received a salary of 500 euros, of which 50 euros were spent on the road. In Estonia, for less hours, she received 850 euros. Public transport is free. He says she was able to save money for the first time in many years.

Latvian children go to school. All that is needed is to declare the child in Estonia. The exact number of such children is unknown, since no special statistics are kept, but the last case was last year, when a boy came to the 6th grade from a Latvian school. Language teaches from scratch. Such children are helped to join, if necessary, make up an individual program.

After finishing 9th grade, students go to the Valga State Gymnasium, where they also have the opportunity to study in Russian. The proportion of education in Russian and Estonian is 40/60.

“They have maths in Russian, physics, Russian, literature. Every year, when the 12th grade is finished, one of these students graduates with a gold medal. They are very good and very oriented towards grades,” says the head of the gymnasium Andrus Murumaa.

And in the gymnasium there is a teacher from Latvia. Marta has been working here as an English and French teacher for eight years. With colleagues speaks English, German and very little in Russian, with children - in the language the subject is in.