The Latvian association in support of schools with Russian for tuition language has arranged the Days to encourage Russian-language education, which is presently harassed in the country as Latvian authorities are out to oust the Russian language from school. The event also means to promote Russian cultural traditions among the Letts, Igor Pimenov, association president, said to Novosti.
The Days will involve professors and students of a total 69 higher and secondary schools with Russian for tuition language, 36 of these based in Riga, Latvian capital.
The programme envisages three contests-of amateur performers, under the motto, "Russian Culture in Latvia"; of research works on the history of ethnic Russian families in Latvia; and a literary competition under the motto, "Russian Writers in Latvia". A drawing exposition and a photograph show on Russian culture in Latvia will be held at Riga's Congress House. It will host a gala concert and a decoration ceremony for contest winners on the closing day, with a pageant in the square in front of the premises.
The secretariat of Latvia's Minister for Social Integration, Riga's Town Hall, the Russian governmental commission for the affairs of ethnic Russians abroad, and the Moscow municipal department of international contacts are jointly financing the Days. Either country is to bear one half of the expenditures.
