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COLLAPSE OF LIFELONG EDUCATION IN LATVIA AS A RESULT OF FLAWED NATIONAL POLICY
M. Marchenoka,
A. Tatarintseva
“No one will help a nation which is unable to help itself, unable to take its destiny in its hands. But to be a good master of your destiny, you need an enlightened mind, knowledge, creative resources and unity of purpose, and you must be prepared to act on your own.
And that means a lifetime of learning.”
Confucius
Introduction. The economic, social and cultural changes that marked the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries called for a new educational paradigm. The response was the Lifelong Learning concept, accepted by the civilized world as a kind of a global strategy based on the assumption that human learning needs have no age limit. Lifelong Learning is viewed is a key formative feature of a new Man, Homo Faber - “Man the Creator,” or, in plainer words, an active person and active citizen in today’s world. Latvia’s economy, social system and education are in a deep crisis that is eroding the personal values of its citizens, devaluing their knowledge, skills and life experience, and calling the entire purpose and meaning of their life into question. The purpose of this study is to analyze why the lifelong learning system has crashed in Latvia as a result of a faulty national policy. The output of this study is a desk-top and empirical analysis on its subject-matter. Some of the key words are: education system, education for adults, society, crisis.
1. System crisis in Latvian society. Latvia is one of the countries whose economies were hit the hardest by the global economic downturn that began in 2007 and continued through 2008. But analysts believe that anywhere you look, whether in economics, politics, law, social science, psychology or education, Latvia’s current woes were only partially occasioned by the global economic slump. The main problem is that the country has been mismanaged for years by an inept government that is “incapable of adequately responding to the complex challenges of the day” [1]. Let’s take a look at just a few of the many signs of crisis in Latvian society: unemployment, government spending priorities and demographic trends.
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Unemployment. While unemployment increased everywhere in the EU in 2009 (see Fig. 1 below), Latvia’s shot up from 10.2 % to 22.3 %, Estonia’s, from 6.5 % to 15.2 %, and Lithuania’s, from 6.4% to 14.6 %.
Fig. 1. Unemployment in the EU (2009)
Latvia has one of the highest unemployment rates in the EU. According to Latvia’s Central Statistics Office, some 41.4 % of Latvia’s employable population were unemployed in the 1st quarter of 2009. Latvia had the highest youth unemployment rate in the EU with 28.1% in 1Q2009 (see Fig. 2 below) [2].
Fig 2. Youth Unemployment in the Baltic States
A new law enacted on 1 July 2009 cut pensions 70 % for working retirees and 10% for non-working retirees in Latvia. The number of working retirees dropped 42.3% the following month alone. More than 25,000 working retirees were forced to leave their jobs [3].
Government spending priorities. Latvia has one of the highest percentages in the EU of people distrustful of their government, political
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parties and parliament, according to a survey conducted by Eurobarometer 71 [4]. 93 % of Latvians do not trust any political parties, 91 % distrust the parliament, and 88 % distrust the government. Only 5 % of Latvians said they trust political parties, 6 % trust the parliament and 10 % trust the government. 78 % of Latvians think the country is going in the wrong direction. The average for the EU is 50 % of people who think the same way. Instead of spending more on anti-crisis measures, Latvian government clearly prefers to beef up defense spending or invest in wasteful, controversial projects such as the Castle of Light (a new library worth US $250 million), or South Bridge (Dienvidu tilts, a bridge 803m long and 34m across with traffic interloops on either side, worth around EUR890 million) [5)]. Latvia has one of the largest bureaucratic apparatuses in Europe. In Latvia, 7.65 % of all economically active citizens are bureaucrats (as opposed to only 0.93 % in the neighboring Lithuania). The public administration apparatus costs 20 % of the entire national budget to maintain (only 8 % in the neighboring Estonia).
Demographic trends. Eurostat analysts have reviewed the birth, mortality and migration rates in 281 administrative regions across Europe, including small states and individual regions of larger states [6]. Twenty years from now, there will be 10.4 % to 37.3 % people aged 65 or older in Europe, depending on the region, compared to 9.1 %-26.8 % now. The average age will be 34-57 years in Europe, depending on the region, versus the current 32-47 years. Population will increase 5% in the EU overall, but not in the Baltic States and not in most regions of Bulgaria, Romania, Germany, Hungary, Poland or the Slovak Republic, where depopulation trends will continue. Latvia, for one, is looking at a negative natural population growth and negative migration: more people will be leaving than coming into the country, according to the Eurostat report.
Latvia’s population will lose 214,000 people between 2010 and 2030, according to Eurostat analysts (see Fig. 3 below) [7].
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2. Collapse of Latvia’s education system in general, and lifelong education in particular
“Education is in tatters, and teachers know this better than anyone else”
M. Gruskiewic, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Education
and Science of Latvia (July 2009)
Latvia acceded to the European Union in 2004, so its education system is now one with that of the EU, and lifelong learning is central to Europe’s education philosophy. Lifelong learning is a concept that prizes the integrity of personal development throughout one’s lifetime, enhancing every person’s chances of employment and social adaptability in an ever-changing world. Latvia’s lifelong learning concept was designed by Prof. T. Kocke [8], Minister of Education and Science of Latvia. Some of its central points are active citizenship, enhanced employability and better quality of life.
Some of the fundamental precepts of the 2000 Lisbon Memorandum On Lifelong Learning [9] are: to give every person access to lifelong learning everywhere in Europe and give every person a chance to learn and perfect their skills and competence so that everyone feels that he/she belongs in a new, knowledge-based economy and society. But what is the real state of affairs in our education and science?
There were only 4000 scientists in Latvia in 2008, down nearly 8 times from 31,000 in 1991, and most of our scientists are at retirement age. Without any support from the government, some of our potentially competitive research think-tanks had to close and their scientific resources are gone forever. Science receives miserly funding from the government. Latvia has spent no more than 0,25 % of its GDP on science in the past few years, well below Sweden with 3,82 %, Finland with 3,47 %, or Germany with 2,51 % of their GDP (see Fig. 4 below) [6].
The research funding coming from EU financial institutions through the Latvian government is not used right due to inept innovation management and too much red tape in the money distribution pipeline [10]. According to the report, The Global Technology Revolution 2020 by the RAND Corporation, Latvia’s scientific potential equals 0,07 %, which means it’s negative. Latvia is fast approaching the level of an average country in Africa.
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Latvia’s education system is doing very poorly today as: (a) education funding is down; (b) there are fewer educational institutions; (c) fewer teachers and educators; (d) teachers are taking salary cuts; (e) there is a net outflow of students and teachers from the country (see Table below).
Table
COLLAPSE OF LATVIA’S EDUCATION SYSTEM IN FACTS
AND FIGURES
Facts September 2009 September 2010 -2013
Education funding cut 60%
Fewer general secondary schools 54 closed 66 reorganized 36 to be closed 40 to be reorganized
Fewer vocational secondary schools - 50 % fewer
Fewer higher educational institutions - 40 % fewer
Fewer schoolteachers by 1700 (35,000) by 10,000
Fewer university professors by 1018
Schoolteachers’ salary cuts 60 %
University professors’ salary cuts 20 %-44 %
School pupils leaving Latvia (with their parents) 24 %
College students leaving Latvia 26 %
Teachers leaving Latvia 19 %
Conclusions:
The central purpose of the lifelong learning concept, which is to improve employability and social adaptability in a new world and improve the quality of life for everyone, is fading in Latvia.
Unemployment is high among educated, employable Latvians. Many educational institutions are being reorganized or closed. This makes people feel that their skills, competence and experience are no longer needed or appreciated, and inspires people to leave the country.
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Latvian government prefers to spend more money on the bureaucratic apparatus, defense or controversial projects instead of fighting the aftereffects of the economic crisis.
References
1. Системный кризис латвийского общества: причины, сценарии развития, возможности преодоления (2009) - Доклад группы экспертов, организованный Институтом европейских исследований и Балтийским институтом стратегических исследований и инноваций (БИСИ), Рига.
2. Латвия — лидер в ЕС среди молодежной безработицы (2009) -DELFI.
3. Министерство благосостояния Латвии (2009), Рига.
4. http://europa.eu.int/comm/public_opinion/.
5. Рошенбург Е. (2009) Министры не спасут Латвию от кризиса,
Рига.
6. Eurostat - Newsrelease (2009).
7. Рассчитано по данным ЦСБЛ
http://data.csb.gov.lv/DATABASE/zin/Ikgad.
8. Koke, T. (2003) Nepartrauktas Izglltlbas Sociali Pedagogiskie Aspekti.SIA „IZGLTTTBAS SOLI”. ISBN 9984-712-37-0.
9. Commission Memorandum on Lifelong Learning ISEC 1832(2000), Lisbon.
10. Рассчитано по данным Евростата и ЦСБЛ http://data.csb.gov.lv/Dialog/varval.asp?ma=03-.
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