Riga, June 17 (LETA) - The government decided on Tuesday to allocate EUR 35.28 million of European Union (EU) funds for the modernization of schools in several municipalities.

The funding for the municipalities is made up of EUR 35.28 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and EUR 6.2 million from the municipal budget. This amounts to a total of EUR 41.5 million.

The funding will be allocated to 18 municipalities with a well-organized school network: the municipalities of Adazi, Aluksne, Gulbene, Jelgava, Kekava, Marupe, Olaine, Salaspils, Saulkrasti, Sigulda, Smiltene, Valka, as well as Daugavpils, Jelgava, Jurmala, Liepaja, Riga and Ventspils.

At least 20 schools in Latvia are expected to be modernized by the end of 2028.

Applications were received from 22 municipalities, including Valmiera, Tukums, Cesis and Kuldiga. However, these municipalities will not receive funding because their applications did not meet the criteria or were submitted after the deadline.

Following the approval of the government decree, the Central Finance and Contracting Agency (CFLA) will launch a call for proposals, inviting the municipalities to submit project proposals for modernizing school infrastructure, the Education and Science Ministry said.

For those municipalities that did not manage to comply with the project conditions within the set deadline, the ministry plans to offer a solution for infrastructure modernization in another round of the support measure.