The Anniversary of H. Sienkiewicz School in Landarów

Last Friday a Polish school named after Henryk Sienkiewicz celebrated the 20^th anniversary of its existence as a separate educational institution. A lot of honourable guests, teachers, parents and former students arrived to celebrate this event.

Twenty years ago, Polish community of the then Polish-Russian high school in Landarów has taken a very important and bold decision to divide the school. Poles from Landarów have long dreamed about a separate educational institution and about educating their children in the spirit of Polish national identity and patriotism. The newly established school had 163 students and 23 teachers.

Today the school has 248 students including nursery-school pupils and recent high school graduates. The school has also 55 employees including 36 teachers.  Decrease in the birth rate affected all educational institutions, also the Landarów school which however has the greatest amount of students in the Trakai region. For 20 years now Franciszek Żeromski is a headmaster and Regina Sinkevičienė is an assistant head.

People who arrived to celebrate the event were: Jarosław Narkiewicz, a member of the Sejmas of the Lithuanian Republic; Anna Maria Kasińska, a councillor of the  Section of the Polish Embassy in Vilnius; Vincas Kapočius, Mayor of the Trakai region; Teresa Sołowjowa, Deputy Mayor of the Trakai region; Asta Kandratavičienė, Director of Administration of the Trakai local government; Irena Narkiewicz, Deputy Director of the Trakai local government; Maria Pucz, a president of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania in the Trakai region and a councillor of the Trackai local government;  Gintaras Petronis, a Landarów parish priest; Dariusz Niedzwiecki, a director of the Trakai House of Culture; Vilma Ramanauskienė, a director of the Children’s Home in Landarów and delegations representing schools from Trakai region. What is more, a congratulatory letter was given to the school community by Waldemar Tomaszewski, a Member of the European Parliament and a president of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania.

The ceremony was started with a speech of the headmaster who was talking about the most important events and successes of the school in the past 20 years.

The school’s mission is to prepare students for further education and to develop the ability to use sources of information, to teach them to accept healthy lifestyle and to educate them in the spirit of tradition. “We want to educate young people so they would be ready to study on a higher level of education. We want them to observe the standards of social life, to know how to cooperate with others and to be proud of their nationality,” said Franciszek Żeromski.

Year 2003 was very important in the history of this institution. At that time, with the financial help of the Polish Community Association and the local government of Trackai it was possible to build a gymnasium, canteen and laboratories of physics, chemistry, computer science, technology. The school was fully able to provide modern study conditions. It is worth noting that thanks to further support of the Polish Community Association and the local government, more specifically councillors and representatives of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania in administration, in recent years a lot of renovation has been done and also the old part of the school has been restored. Nowadays, the building is being insulated from the outside.

The school was the organizer of the XVII Republican Polish Language Contest and it participates in international projects. In the years 2008-2010 together with schools from Poland and Latvia the Landarów school carried out a Comenius project, From the Garden To the European Table, funded by the European Union. In this school teachers carry out a programme Social and Emotional Security as a part of which they want to offer better educational opportunities and improve skills necessary for people of 21^st century. The school is famous for the traditional events, expected by the school community. The school founder’s day, prom, celebration of national and religious holidays, the active participation of students in both charity and environmental campaigns are this kind of events that remains in the memory for a long time.

For many years, the Sienkiewicz School together with the teachers from the Lithuanian Educological University organize a small Polish Language Contest among students from 9^th and 10^th grade of Polish schools in the Trakai region and also a regional contest Spelling Is Fun for elementary grades’ students.

Two years ago, at the initiative of Jarosław Narkiewicz, a Member of Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania, a new facility was opened in the school – a kindergarten. And also this time it wouldn’t have happened without the help of the Polish Community Association and Trakai local government.  According to the director, this decision is significant for the development of Polish education because this is an opportunity not only to educate future students of the school but also to offer education in native language to children, who are in the age of 3 until their graduation, from Landarów and its neighbourhood.

Among the school successes there is the fact of having highly qualified teaching staff. Out of 36 teachers working here, 18 are qualified educationalists. The school is concerned about the safety of the students and provides a wide range of extra-curricular activities. There are three groups existing here: Prząśniczka, which is known for 30 years already, Wesołe Nutki and the youngest group Krasnoludki. Moreover, an interesting and beneficial idea is given thanks to sports, theatre and art groups.

The school can be also proud of many winners of the regional and republican competitions. The school gets on with the church and other schools from Trakai region. Much attention is paid here to language teaching, to educating children in the spirit of respecting traditions and human values. The school graduates are highly regarded and respected and their successes became pride of many teachers. Among the graduates of this still young school there are teachers, doctors, soldiers, councillors, economists, businessmen and diplomats.

During the ceremony the most distinguished teachers and school stuff were awarded with certificates of merits from the area management and from a member of the Sejmas, Jarosław Narkiewicz. The school management were thanked cordially for their effort and dedication. On the occasion of the anniversary the school received 2000 Lithuanian litas from Asta Kandratavičienė. Moreover 400 Lithuanian litas and a congratulatory letter was handed by the head of the Polish Educational Society in Lithuania, Józef Kwiatkowski.

The ceremony lasted more than three hours and consisted of the performances of the school groups and individual performances of students which were interlarded with the greetings from the guests and parents. The school society have heard a lot of prise, thanks and good words for contributing to the image of the school as rich in value and for the passion and pedagogical professionalism.

Helping in gaining the knowledge, shaping and preparing young people for mature life and for making independent and very often difficult decisions – those are the tasks of the teachers. Those tasks are not easy but the teachers and the management of the schools manages to carry them out.

Source: http://kurierwilenski.lt/2012/11/26/jubileusz-szkoly-im-h-sienkiewicza-w-landwarowie/

Tłumaczenie Monika Rak w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Monika Rak the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.