More than half or 53% of young people in Latvia are not aware of the values of democracy and are therefore unable to understand the threats, according to the first results of the international civic education study “ICCS 2022”.
Latvian schoolchildren see the ban on social and mass media freedom as the most significant threat. 75% of students agreed that the situation when the government blocks social media in order to prevent its users from criticizing the government’s policy is not favorable for democracy. On the other hand, 70% of students believe that democracy is threatened if the government closes newspapers, radio and television channels that have criticized the government’s policies.
A smaller proportion of students – 66% of students – see government control of all newspapers, radio stations and television channels in the country as a threat to democracy.
Violation of the law, thereby violating pre-election promises, and the appointment of only those judges who uncritically support the government, seem threatening to democracy to 62% and 58% of Latvian schoolchildren, respectively. On the other hand, 61% of Latvian schoolchildren stated that the threat to democracy is caused by the conflict of interests and the decisions of political leaders to appoint their family members. Meanwhile, the average value of the study is 73%, 70% and 65% respectively.
Latvian students are also more tolerant regarding the arrest of opposition leaders who openly criticize the new law – 56% of Latvian students see it as a threat to democracy.
Also, the results of the study show that Latvian students trust the parliament and the government less than students in other Baltic countries. In Latvia, 51% of students trust the government and 43% in the Saeima, while in Lithuania – 68% and 52%, respectively. Meanwhile, in Estonia, 71% of students trust the government and 57% trust the national parliament.
Compared to 2016, Latvian schoolchildren’s trust in the court decreased from 71% to 65%. Traditional media have also lost students’ trust – from 51% to 45%.
The researchers attribute the decline in trust to the possible impact of the pandemic, as the government made unpopular decisions and the national media broadcast these decisions publicly, creating resentment and mistrust among both the public and students.
Although 8th grade students are generally aware of the value of democracy and are able to critically evaluate aspects of threats to democracy, the researchers draw attention to the fact that still half of the students in the member states of the study do not see threats in social and mass media control, censorship or prohibition, corruption and conflict of interest support in government work and in politics. Only in Poland and Sweden, more than half or 54% of students admit that the listed actions are a threat to democracy, while the responses of other countries reach 50% or less.
The researchers assume that the answers of the Polish students can be connected with the political events in the country in recent years, while the answers of the Swedish students show the ingrainedness of democratic values. Swedish students also have more trust in the national government and the national parliament.
As announced, the main goal of the study is to investigate the extent to which young people are ready to take on various civic roles. It was attended by 22 world countries and two German states North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein. Latvia is participating in the study for the fourth time.
Four areas are highlighted in the “IEA ICCS 2022” cycle – sustainability, digital environment, diversity, young people’s view of political systems. The study determined students’ civic knowledge and ability to analyze and search for reasons on the topics of civic education. Content-related questions were asked about civic institutions and systems, civic principles, civic participation, civic roles and identity.
For the second time, Latvia participated in the study with national issues. This time, questions were included in the survey, with the help of which students’ opinions about the guarantors of national security, their sense of belonging to Latvia and their authority, information dissemination were clarified.
The image is illustrative. Photo: Eddy Palen/LETA
2023-12-27 04:06:24
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