Education in Latvia is free and compulsory. Compulsory education includes two years of preschool education (usually starting at five years old) and a further nine years of primary education (usually until 15/16 years of age).[1][2]
In 1996, the gross primary enrollment rate was 95.8 percent, while the net primary enrollment rate was 89.5 percent.[3] The number of children who do not attend primary school was increasing as of 2001.[3] In rural areas, a number of schools have been closed.[3] The place allocated to minority languagesinsecondary education after the 2004 minority school transfer to bilingual education (60% in Latvian and 40% in the minority language) was an issue of protests in 2003–2004 and was opposed by Headquarters for the Protection of Russian Schools and Association in Support of Russian Language Schools.[4][5]
According to 2010 data from UNESCO, 4,720 students from Latvia were enrolled in tertiary education abroad (mostly in the UK, Russia and Germany); 1,760 students from other countries were enrolled in tertiary education in Latvia (mostly from Russia, Ukraine and Lithuania).[6]