Support for reducing early school leaving

On 15 September 2015, the municipality of Rezekne signed a cooperation agreement with the education quality public service on the implementation of the European Social Fund project No 8.3.4.0/16/I/001 “Support for reducing early school leaving” in the educational institutions of the municipality of Rezekne, in order to reduce the number of children and young people who stop learning and leave school.
The project contributes to the development of a system of sustainable cooperation between municipalities, schools, teachers and parents in order to identify children and young people in a timely manner with the risk of discontinuing training and providing them with personalised support. Teachers are given the opportunity to develop and strengthen skills for youth work, and methodological tools will also be developed. A single database will also be created that will ensure regular exchange of information at national, municipal and school level on identified pupils and learners with the risk of discontinuing training, preventive measures taken and their results. This will, firstly, provide full statistics and, secondly, allow long-term evaluation of the effectiveness of the measures. The project also supports youth NGOs initiatives to address the problem of school leaving among young people, to address pupils with the help of peers and to involve them in activities.
The measures focus on the early diagnosis and solution of the problem in order to prevent the emergence of overlapping situations that would require much more resources and could be less efficient.
It is also intended to provide individual support to children and young people who could stop training because of lack of funds, such as compensation for transport, catering and service hotels as well as the purchase of individual learning assets. However, the main focus of the project will be not to provide temporary financial assistance but to create a sustainable comprehensive mechanism by creating a supportive and inclusive school environment for every student.
Target group:
 Schools of general education from classes 5 to 12
 Studies of vocational training institutions from courses 1 to 4 (also General education institutions implementing vocational training programmes)
Project implementation time: 03/2017 – 12/2022
It is planned that the local educational institutions of the municipality of Rezekne will be engaged gradually: IN the first semester of the 2017/2018 school year, the activity is started BY Nautrēnu and Dricānu secondary school, the second semester will join Maltas, Kaunatas and Tiskad High School in order to reduce/eliminate the risks for early school leaving.