Latvian education minister stays in office despite controversy over youth festival

Latvian Education and Science Minister Marite Seile said she would stay in office despite the controversy she caused last weekend by cancelling the traditional parade of the School Youth Song and Dance Festival after dozens of children who participated in the festival were taken to hospital with various health issues.

Last Sunday, the minister cancelled the parade in Riga after several dozen children fainted during the final rehearsal of the closing concert on Saturday afternoon.

Later, though, participants were allowed to go ahead with the parade, and the vast majority of them turned out for the event which had been intended as the festival's culmination.

Altogether 62 kids were rushed to hospital with various health issues during the festival, and a total of 50 children fainted during Saturday's rehearsal, which took place on an open air stage.

Parents and teachers slammed the education and science ministry for poor communication.

Seile said on Monday that she was ready to stand down if necessary, but that she needed to consult Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma first.

After her meeting with Straujuma on Tuesday, the education minister said she had decided not to resign. She promised instead to do everything to prevent such situations from repeating in the future.

Reiterating her responsibility for "organizational failures" during the festival, Seile said she saw two alternatives available to her: resignation, or doing everything to prevent such situations from repeating, and that she had chosen the latter after her conversation with the prime minister.

A commission has also been set up under the education and science ministry's auspices to investigate the mass fainting of child choristers at the festival, which many blame on exhaustion and unhealthy food.

Nearly 38,000 schoolchildren from across Latvia took part in the XI Latvian School Youth Song and Dance Festival, which was held here from July 6 to 12. Endit