Local teachers in Daugavpils will receive free health insurance, an official press release by the Daugavpils Municipality reported yesterday. Authorities are taking teachers’ concerns about their increased risk of exposure to Covid-19 seriously now that the school year has begun in Latvia. Teachers were informed about this initiative at their annual professional conference by the Mayor of Daugavpils Igors Prelatovs.
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The proposal was also discussed by specialists at a meeting of the Daugavpils Education Board. Currently, the Education Department of the government of the second-largest Latvian city is busy organizing a procurement for the purchase of health insurance packages for the teachers. These will be given to all professionals working in pre-school and school levels, as well as to special education teachers.
However, teachers who are working part-time or are not registered in the professional trade union will not be covered. That means that of the little more than 1600 teachers in the city, still most are expected to receive the benefit of health insurance.
Up until now, if teachers in the municipality wanted to be covered by insurance, this was their own personal decision and contracting an insurance policy was to be paid from their own pockets. As it has been reported, the teachers are satisfied with the decision, given that many of them, such as physical education teachers are expected to stay healthy and in good shape up until their retirement.
Jānis Dukšinskis, the Deputy Mayor of Daugavpils, explained that a single insurance policy could run up to about 100 euros in price which means that nearly 160 000 euros will be set aside from the city budget to implement the new measure. The policy offered will cover basic medical expenses and if some of the teachers want to add extra benefits, they will have the option to do so at their own expense.
Source: TheMayor.EU
