Lithuania’s new strategy for education

The Lithuanian government announced  their new  strategy  for education  for  the years 2013-

2022, which defines the most important aims and goals that are to be pursued and carried out

within the next decade in the Lithuanian educational system. For instance it is intended that by

raising  the overall  level of  teaching,  the number of self-employed persons and  the number of

pupils  and  students  winning  international  competitions  can  be  increased.  The  strategy  in

question is composed of four sections, which in turn are based on the four main aims specified

in that document.

The  first aim relates to the government creating opportunities  for constant self-improvement

and development for educational staff. In order to allow the creation of groups of professional

teachers, the above is necessary.

The  second  strategic  aim  is  for  the  government  to  allow  schools  to  independently  and  to  a

greater extent decide upon  the own  syllabi and  to hence add more  flexibility  to education  in

Lithuanian schools.

The  third strategic aim  is  to  turn particular attention  to  children  from countryside and  those

who  come  from  the  so-called  families  of  high  social  risk.  The  government  should  not  only

intend to educate but also develop work—related habits in youths.

The  fourth aim  is  to  create new education programmes, which would allow young people  to

combine  education  with  work,  especially  through  work  placements,  work  experience  and

apprenticeships.

The  government  has  also  prepared  a  new  financing  system  for  education  that  it  to  be

introduced  in  2013  and  should  prevent  the  closure  of  small  village  schools, which  are  often

sole  cultural  centres.  “Approximately  20mln  Lt will  be  allocated  to  supporting  small  village

schools and around 19mln will be spent on completing 11th and 12th years  in village schools.

Another  few  million  will  also  be  spent  on  improving  the  so-called  pupil’s  basket  and

psychological  support  for  students”  – Minister  of Education Dainius Pavalkis  explained.  It  is

also  planned  that  the  financial  cut-backs  on  education  will  be  prevented  despite  being

seemingly  unavoidable  given  the  falling  number  of  pupils.  Within  the  last  few  years  the

number of pupils has been diminishing by, on average, 26% less that the number of classes and

in order to compensate for the difference between the number of pupils and that of classes, the

allowance per student is to be raised by 38Lt (from 3310Lt to 3348Lt).

Changes will  also  affect  financial  supplements  for  student  baskets  in  the  case  of  Lithuanian

schools of multilingual nature. Up  to now 20% of  the student basket was covered  in national

minority schools  (including  the Polish ones) but also  the  in Lithuanian schools  located  in  the

regions of Vilnius and Šalčininkai, so  long as at  least 20% of pupils of a qualifying school did

not speak Lithuanian as  their  first  language. This move will provoke battles over pupils  from

Polish, Russian  and mixed  families.  It will  surely be  a blow  for Polish  schools  that  for many

years  have  been  fighting  for  Polish  pupils  by  trying  to  eradicate  the  mistaken  but 28th September 2013

extraordinarily  strong  belief  that  Lithuanian  schools  equip  with  “better  perspectives  and

knowledge of the Lithuanian language”.

In  the  case  of  mixed  schools  that  do  not  qualify  as  a  multilingual  environment  (e.g.  The

Lithuanian-Russian school in Klaipėda), the 20% supplement will only be awarded to pupils of

non-Lithuanian origin. Until now that same supplement was awarded to all pupils from mixed

schools,  including  Lithuanians.  From  next  year  onwards  the  supplement will  be  awarded  to

both  Lithuanians  and  non-Lithuanians  so  long  as  the  considered  school  qualifies  as  a

multilingual  environment.  Increased  supplements  are  also  to  be  awarded  to  countryside

primary schools with between 200 and 300 pupils. In the view of the Minister of Education due

to  the  latest  system,  every 201st

  student  triggered  losses of up  to 200,000Lt  for  countryside

primary schools as supplements were awarded to larger classes.

The opposition composed of the former Minister of Education, Gintaras Steponavičius already

criticised this idea claiming that only large colleges in the regions of Vilnius and Šalčininkai will

benefit. “Changes introduced by the government will not apply to over 400 countryside schools

– the smallest and those that are in the most difficult situation, thus claiming that small schools

are  looked  after  and  that  the  smaller  the  child,  the  closer  the  school,  are  untrue.  Only

approximately  100  colleges  in  larger  villages will  face  an  improvement  in  their  situation”  –

Steponavicius  claims,  highlighting  that  the majority  of  such  schools  that  have  not  yet  been

converted into high schools remains in the Vilnius and Šalčininkai regions.

Based on: BNS, lrytas.lt

Source: http://www.wilnoteka.lt/pl/artykul/nowa-strategia-oswiatowa-litwy

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