RIGA, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Latvian government coalition on Monday decided to push ahead with some of the controversial education reforms, which met disagreements last week.
The decision was made after a compromise solution reached on Monday, with one of the key proposals, to lower the school age to six from seven years, indefinitely postponed, representatives of Latvia's center-right coalition told reporters.
Education and Science Minister Karlis Sadurskis, who is the main initiator of the reforms, met with coalition lawmakers on Monday to convince them of the necessity to introduce competency-based learning in Latvia's schools.
The Union of Greens and Farmers, the leading partner in the tripartite coalition, has so far been showing the strongest resistance to Sadurskis' proposals. Talks within the coalition will continue on the details of the compromise solution.
Last Thursday, several reforms proposed by the Education and Science Ministry got stuck in the parliament as members of the education committee rejected a number of the ministry's initiatives, including the idea to lower the school age to six.
The lawmakers also dismissed the ministry's proposal to give high schools greater freedom in combining teaching programs and decided to postpone a transition of competency-based learning for a year.
After the political signals last week suggested that the education reform might be scrapped, a group of concerned parents formed an action group called Parents for Better Education and sent the parliament education committee a letter urging lawmakers to pass the laws necessary to enable to reform as soon as possible.
The parliament is expected to hold the second and third reading of the education reform bills this week.
