Integration monitor is a daily Latvian press digest on ethnic minority and society integration issues. The Monitor reviews the biggest Latvian dailies: Diena, Latvijas Avize, Neatkariga (in Latvian language), Vesti Segodnya (in Russian language). In specific cases other information sources are used. Latvian Centre for Human Rights is not responsible for information published by the media.

• Ombudsman presented results of a monitoring of bilingual education in ethnic minorities schools
• Neatkariga: Ombudsman supports Roma villages, but eliminates Roma classes
• The international editor of the Economist Edward Lucas: ethnic Russian should have wider representation at high posts

 Yesterday, in the framework of the annual conference, the Ombudsman Juris Jansons presented the findings of the monitoring of bilingual education in minority schools in Riga and Latvian regions. The aim of the monitoring was to evaluate how bilingual education is being implemented and how it promotes the integration of students in the Latvian society. The monitoring was conducted in 49 schools. 49 school principals were interviewed, 215 lessons were observed, and 3,272 students were surveyed. According to the monitoring results, 50% of the students evaluate their Latvian language proficiency as good, and 77% of the students easily perceive lessons in the Latvian language. 35% admitted that most likely they would not want to study any subjects in the Latvian language, while 40% would like to study only a few subjects in Latvian. 25% of the students would be ready to do all the subjects in Latvian. During the monitoring, the Ombudsman identified that seven teachers have insufficient Latvian language proficiency and reported about them to the State Language Centre. The Ombudsman has proposed more the state monitoring of state language use and education quality in minority schools. The Ombudsman also concluded that as 50% of students have good Latvian language skills there should be the transition to instruction in Latvian language only. The exception could be made in the case of children who have recently immigrated to Latvia and are not proficient in Latvian. In an interview with Latvijas Avize, the Ombudsman explained that these proposals are not definitive, and they were made to provoke a discussion. Other conference speakers also contributed to the discussion. The MEP from Latvia, Karlis Sadurskis stated that education in all Latvian state funded schools should be in Latvian language only in order to promote integration and seek that Latvia becomes more “ethnic Latvian”. MP Boriss Cilevics did not support the proposal arguing that it is not permissible not to take into account the opinion of those students and their parents who do not want to study in Latvian language only. Advisor to the Minister of Education Liesma Ose did not support the proposal of the Ombudsman and Mr Sadurskis stressing the benefits of bilingual education system. Latvijas Avize

Neatkariga prints an article about the idea of the Head of the Latvian Roma Association Normunds Rudevics on building Roma villages. As reported, Mr Rudevics proposes to build at least four Roma villages in Latvian regions which would have several factories, houses and other infrastructure for Roma people. According to Mr Rudevics, building one village would cost around 40 millions euros and it could be covered by the European Commission’s grants, but the land for such villages could be provided by local governments. Experts interviewed by Neatkariga are sceptical about such initiative as the closed villages do not correspond to the meaning of integration. Representative of the Ministry of Culture Deniss Kretalovs believes that closed Roma villages would promote their segregation and besides that, the concept of Roma villages is described only on 10 pages without proper calculations. Newspaper also notes that the Ombudsman’s Office supports the idea of Roma villages despite the fact that recently the Ombudsman’s Office got actively involved in elimination of Roma classes in Latvian schools as those promote Roma segregation. According to the head of the equality department of the Ombudsman’s Office Sarlote Berzina, preservation of camping and tabor lifestyle is very important for Roma.

 The international editor of the U.K. based global newsweekly The Economist Edward Lucas in an interview with Latvijas Avize states that the Concord Centre should be represented in the government because it has support of about 30% of population. Mr Lucas believes that, with the view on strategic long-term priorities, it is important for Latvia that Russian speaking residents feel integrated into the state’s political system because it would also let them feel responsibility. By holding the Concord Centre constantly in the opposition it creates a risk for local Russian to feel as being in opposition towards the state. Mr Lucas also believes that ethnic Russians should have wider representation at high posts.