Proposition of the group of 3 May: Additional points for knowledge of the Polish language

MPs associated in the parliamentary group of 3 May issued a request to award students with additional points for knowledge of Polish and Russian language during university admission. This is supposed to help secondary school graduates belonging to national minorities to be admitted to universities in Lithuania.

The proposition was addressed to the Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis, the Minister of Education and Science Jurgita Petrauskienė, the president of the Conference of Rectors Juozas Augutis, the rector of the University of Vilnius Arturas Žukauskas and the rector of the University of Technology in Kaunas Petras Baršauskas.

“Universities play a particularly important role in our society not only because they provide youth of our nation with a high level of education, but also, through recruitment policies, they demonstrate which qualities and qualifications of young people are considered valuable by universities and the whole society”, says the statement.

“Although the youth of national communities is provided with particularly favorable conditions to complete secondary education in their native language, lots of young people attend Lithuanian schools. After graduation, most of them successfully study at Lithuanian universities although quite a few of them go to neighboring Polish, where they find a job after studies and become residents. This situation does not allow to strengthen the intelligentsia of ethnic communities in Lithuania, it does harm to activities of these communities and their ability to represent their issues in institutions of state and in social life”, write members of the group.

MPs are convinced that it would be beneficial for the whole Lithuanian society if more representatives of national minorities studied at universities of Lithuania.

“This is why the group proposes awarding both Lithuanian and foreign students with extra points (up to 0.5 point) for knowledge of foreign languages (in case of students from national communities – for adequate knowledge of their native languages, eg. Polish, Russian, Jewish, Belorussian and others)”, this is how the authors justify their request.

According to MPs, such step would contribute to improving possibilities of representatives of national minorities in the field of education and would show young people of different nationalities that investing in foreign languages pays off later.