Rezekne District School network will be optimized

The work group established by the Rēzekne municipality council for optimisation of pre-school educational institutions and schools network has compiled information regarding the number of pupils and the dynamics of the number of pupils in educational institutions, the number of pre-school children up to four years of age, the number of teachers and the workload in educational institutions, the allocation of wages (national target grant and co-financing of the local government), the number of technical staff and the load, the maintenance costs of the buildings, the transport of pupils and other types of information. Unfortunately, the aggregated results are not delighted – the low birth and population outflows from the countryside have also affected Rezekne's municipality, contributing to the shrinking of pupils in the past six years for 700 students. The working group has developed options for optimisation of the educational institutions of Rezekne, which were discussed and supported at the meeting of the Standing Committee on Education, Culture and Sport on 11 February.
The proposed proposals are: by 19 August 2016, the Central School of Catholic Catholics of Kalnezeru and the Zarečnajas primary school, as well AS from 1 September 2016 AT Mākoņkalna pre-school educational institution to be converted into a Kaunatas pre-school educational institution “bell” unit.
As the Deputy Managing Authority OF Education HAD explained, Vilis Deksnis, the analysis of the situation was carried out in the light of three guidelines: access to education, quality of education and cost-effectiveness., accessibility of the education service means that the principle that pre-school and primary school children would be close to the place of residence should be maintained, while the largest pupils would be able to get to the school at the earliest possible time. The quality of education means that quality education must be in all schools, irrespective of their location, given that the combination of three or more classes cannot guarantee quality education. On the other hand, the effective use of financial resources means that, when assessing national budgets, municipal and parental funds, children's teachers will be paid proportionately. As the national target grants are not sufficient, the municipality is currently spending considerable resources on its budget in order to ensure extended day groups, interest education, librarian pay etc. The funding allocated by the municipality for school and pre-school teachers with each year is increasing: if it was 725 958 EURO in 2013, this funding has already exceeded a million in 2015.
The working group carefully assessed the cost of maintenance of schools in which the estimated number of pupils is less than 40. The forecasts indicate that the Kalnezeru Catholic elementary school will be visited on 1 September 2016 by 31 pupils, most OF THE population OF Lendžu parish, of which only 1 pre-grading. The school currently employs 12 teachers, one of which is 9. The school's economic expenditure is EUR 35673,10, (if the school is closed, the cost of maintenance of the building will be estimated at EUR 13 283). Students are offered to transport to Nautrēnu secondary school unit Bērzgales primary school, Verham primary school or Nautrēnu secondary school. When analysing all costs, the economy after school closure is estimated at EUR 68 369.
The estimated number of pupils in the Central School of Rezekne at Zarečnajas primary school on 1 September 2016 is 34, but, as the working group concluded, they are actually only 32, as some children live outside Latvia, also one of the three predecessors. An interesting fact is that from Griškānu parish children, Zarečnai's primary school is visited only 18, the others selected in Rezekne. The economic expenditure of the school building currently accounts for 55353.82 EURO, (after school closure they will decrease to 18 024 EURO). 13 teachers are employed at the school, one of which is 7. Students are offered to continue their studies at the Central School of Rezne (Latvian Flow) or elementary school or Audriņu in primary school (minority classes). The estimated cost savings as a result of school closure are EUR 55821,13.
In early 2016, the working group met teachers and pupils' parents and listened to their opinions. The parents were concerned that children, in order to get to school, would have to get up early in the morning, how the children of Classes 1-4 would be employed after hours, who would have to wait for more than a bus, the parents of the Kalnzeru Catholic School of Schools were worried by the fact that there was no good sports medicine (children in Sport Aamov's special boarding school). It was also suggested that the Christian values maintained by this school would not be retained. In this context, THE President OF the Rēzekne District Council, Monvīds Švarcs, met the Bishop of Rēzekne Aglona, Jānis Buli, who made a proposal in one of the schools – Nautrēnu in secondary school or Bērzgales in elementary school – to create optional Christian learning for learning if the parents of the pupils expressed such wish. The municipality of Latvia offered the parents of pupils to organise a trip to the educational institutions in April, where their children could be trained in the future, in order to assess the plushes and minus on the spot.
A municipality in cooperation with parish administrations will seek solutions for the use of the infrastructure of schools in the future. The main school sports hall of the Kalnzeru Catholic School will continue to be used by residents for sporting activities, while the Zarečnajas primary school building could be used as a place for the provision of social services or the organisation of youth summer camps.
In a situation where problems with the decline in the number of pupils in the schools in question would be temporary, the members of the council would decide on additional money from the budget, but long-term forecasts, unfortunately, do not lead to optimism, so that such a unpopular and painful decision must be adopted. The question of optimisation of the network of educational institutions will be seen at the meeting of the Rēzekne District Council on 18 February.
Anna Rancāne