Government coalition again defers decision on teacher academy's reorganization

RIGA - Latvia's government coalition today postponed until next week a decision on the planned reorganization of the Riga Teacher Training and Education Management Academy (RPIVA) by merging it with the University of Latvia, Education and Science Minister Karlis Sadurskis (Unity) told journalists.

This time, it was the National Alliance that exercised the rights under the coalition agreement to postpone the decision by a week. The National Alliance claimed that some questions about the academy's planned reorganization still remained unanswered, although Sadurskis did not agree with that.

The education and science minister said that the government will decide on the issue on March 28 and predicted that the reorganization plan will be pushed through eventually.

The government coalition has deferred its decision on the Riga Teacher Training and Education Management Academy for the second time already. Earlier, the decision was postponed at the request of the Union of Greens and Farmers.

The coalition meeting is ongoing.

As reported, the Education and Science Ministry has decided to reorganize the RPIVA by merging it with the University of Latvia by the end of August. This is necessary to concentrate resources and ensure more effective utilization of budget funds, said the ministry.

The RPIVA strongly objects to its reorganization, complaining that the Education and Science Ministry had failed to discuss the plan with the academy and that the allegations about inefficiency and low-quality education at the RPIVA amount to politically-motivated slander.