Case initiated before the Constitutional Court concerning a provision for the enrolment of six-year-olds to Year 1 in Riga municipal schools only in the event of free places
The case ‘‘On compliance of Section 19 of Riga City Council binding regulations No RD-23-199-sn “Procedure for the registration and examination of applications for the enrolment of children to Year 1 in Riga municipal education institutions’ of 26 April 2023 with Articles 64, 91, and 110 of the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia” has been brought before the Constitutional Court.
The contested provision states that if there are free places for enrolment, the institution may include in the list of Year 1 candidates those children who have reached the age of six by 1 September of the year in question, in the order of priority laid down in the binding regulations.
The case was initiated on the basis of an application by the ombudsman. The applicant has pointed out that children who start primary education in the calendar year in which they turn seven and children who, depending on their state of health and psychological development, start primary education one year earlier based on their parents’ wishes are in the same conditions that are comparable according to certain criteria. The contested provision makes it possible, without reasonable grounds, to discriminate between these groups of persons, because children who have reached the age of six by 1 September of the year in question may be included in the list of candidates for Year 1 only if there are free places. Thus, the contested provision is believed to be incompatible with the principle of equality enshrined in the first sentence of Article 91 of the Constitution. In the application, it is also pointed out that the competence of the Riga City Council does not extend to determining the procedure for enrolment of children in the primary education institutions established by the municipal government, and that the municipal government has encroached into the sphere of parental rights. Thus, the municipal government infringed Articles 64 and 110 of the Constitution.
The Constitutional Court requested the authority which issued the contested regulation (the Parliament) to submit, by 21 January 2024, a letter with a reply, detailing the circumstances of the case along with a legal rationale.
The deadline for the preparation of the case is 22 April 2024. The Court will decide on the procedure and date for hearing the case once the case is prepared.
Linked case: 2023-43-03