Rights to education
Every citizen of Latvia, holders of non-citizen passports issued by the Republic of Latvia, citizens of European Union, European Economic Area countries and Switzerland, permanent residents of the European Community holding a residence permit for Latvia, stateless persons in possession of a travelling document issued by the Republic of Latvia, third country nationals or stateless persons who are in possession of a valid residence permit for the Republic of Latvia, persons having refugee or alternative status and persons who have received temporary protection within the Republic of Latvia have equal rights to education in Latvia.
Basic and Secondary education
General education in Latvia in total lasts 12 years consisting of 9-years basic education (compulsory for all children starting from the age of 7 and is usually completed till the age of 16) and 3-years secondary education.
There are 2 types of programmes at the secondary education level: academic secondary education programmes and vocational secondary education programmes. The main task of academic secondary education programmes is to prepare for further studies at university, while the vocational secondary programmes are more aimed at acquiring a vocational qualification, i.e. for entering the labor market.
Higher education
The admission procedure is not centralized: each higher education institution has its own admission board and criteria. Starting year 2004 entrance examinations are replaced by the results of the national centralized secondary education examinations. A Certificate of secondary general education is required to continue education at the level of higher education.
