Educational institutions of Vilnius region ready for 1 September

On Saturday (the 25th of August) the Dog Breeders’ Club in Šalčininkai organizes a festival named ‘Summer 2012 in Dog Breeders’ Club in Šalčininkai’. The celebration will consist of two parts: the first one includes three shows of ‘lesser brothers’ and the second will focus on artistic and humorous aspects – during this part, Šalčininkai will change into ‘the Republic of Four-legged Pets’ for one evening.

During the holiday, the ‘Independence Day of ‘Four-Legged Pets’ will be declared for the first time and the president of the Republic of Four-legged Pets will be elected, which should meet the following requirements: it has to be a dog or a cat, at least five years old, living in Lithuania for at least five years, able to bark (or meow) in several languages, in a good physical condition (shiny coat, healthy teeth and sharp fangs), with no bad habits and with the ability to keep its mouth shut and to perform all orders of the hosts.

The organizers prepared lots of attractions, shows, lectures, competitions and quizzes for children and adults.

In the first part of the celebration, at 9 am on the playing field of Jan Śniadecki Gymnasium, the first National Dog Show will begin. At 10 am in the city park a mongrel-dog show will be held, during which the most beautiful mixed-breed dog of Šalčininkai will be chosen. A cat show starts at 9 o’clock in Jan Śniadecki Gymnasium.

The second part of the event is scheduled for 4 pm in the city park. It will include humorous declaration of the ‘Independence Day of Four-legged Pets’ and the inauguration of the election of the ‘President of the Republic of Four-Legged Pets’, followed by a concert, a parade of balloons and a feast for all attendees.

Dog and cat breeders and owners of pets from Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia and other European countries have already declared their intention to participate in the festival.

During this year’s conference for headmasters of educational institutions in Vilnius region that took place on 28 August, seven headmasters of school choirs received congratulatory letters from the deputy mayor of Vilnius Region Local Govermnent, Gabriel Jan Mincewicz, for preparing the choristers well for this year’s students’ music festival “Our name’s Lithuania” („Musų vardas – Lietuva“).

This prestigious celebration took place between 3and 8 July. More than twenty thousand students and their music supervisors participated in it. Singers from the Vilnius region worked hard for a year to be able to perform during this important festival. The honourable title of participants of the celebration was granted to eight choirs of the Vilnius region that unites 232 members.

Honouring the headmasters was preceded by a performance prepared by pupils of Music School in the town of Pogiry. Among the participants of the conference were the deputy mayors of Vilnius Region Local Govermnent- Gabriel Jan Mincewicz and Czesław Olszewski, administrative manager of Vilnius Region Local Govermnent Lucyna Kotłowska and deputy manager Rita Tamaszuniene. The head of police Józef Kużmicki and the head of the main health care centre Vida Žvirblienė were also present. Obviously there were also members of the Department of Education, including Lilia Andruszkiewicz, the head of the Department, along with educational institutions workers from the region. The deputy mayor Gabriel Jan Mincewicz wished all the participants a successful year of teaching, lots of patience and persistence.

The number of students increased

While presenting the report of the Department of Education for the first half of the current year, L. Andruszkiewicz emphasized that in comparison to previous years, in the 2012/2012 school year there were slightly more students attending schools where Polish is the teaching language, but the number decreased in Lithuanian and Russian sections. In the 2011/2012 school year more students attended comprehensive schools with Polish as the teaching language than schools with Lithuanian language (56.8% and 39.9% respectively). The situation is different in kindergartens: in 2011/2012 51.8 % of children attended institutions with Lithuanian language as the leading one, and 46.7% went to kindergartens with Polish language. Initial data shows that in the coming school year 1903 children will go to pre-primary education institutions. 50.8% of them- to Lithuanian kindergartens, 47.1%- to Polish ones and 2.1% to Russian ones.

In the past school year in comprehensive schools there were 234 students less than in 2010/2011, but 231 pupils more in kindergartens. Initial data suggests that on 1 September 221 pupils more than in the past year will go to kindergartens.

100.000 litai for camps

In the current year Vilnius Region Local Government allocated 100.000 litai for summer historical, ecological, artistic and other camps. Almost a thousand of children from capital region benefited from the project.

Better conditions in schools

During holidays the schools in Vilnius region were being prepared to welcome the students: they were renovated and refreshed. Currently a new nursery/kindergarten for eighty children is built in Awiżenie. The works were initiated at the beginning of the past year. The project is worth 3 million litai and the money was donated by the Local Government. According to plans, the building should be finished next year. Renovation of the high school in Jałówka, with Polish as the teaching language, was initiated last year. The project is worth over 6 million litai and the all the money was given by the Local Government. The works should be finished in 2013. Renovation of the high school in Mejszagoł, with Lithuanian as the teaching language, is nearly finished. Junior high school in Rudomin, where both, Lithuanian and Polish are taught, is also being renovated.

63% of alumni went to universities

According to preliminary data, 392 of graduates from the capital region (63%) went to universities and other non-university higher schools, including 21 pupils who went to universities in Poland and the United Kingdom. The rate was the same in the previous year. In the current year the most popular institutions among high school graduates in Vilnius region were the Vilnius University, Technical University of Gediminas in Vilnius, University of Michał Rőmer in Vilnius, Vilnius department of University in Białystok, Lithuanian Ecological University, Vilnius College and other institutions.

New Counselling Centre of Pedagogy and Psychology

The manager of the centre, Roman Juchniewicz, was speaking about its activity during the conference. He reminded his listeners than on 1 December 2011 the institution was separated from the Department of Education. Its basic function is examining children with learning difficulties, diagnosing those difficulties and preparing recommendations for teachers on how to work with those students. The specialists working in the Centre offer career counselling and they examine children to define their readiness to study in a school. The Centre in Vilnius as the first and only one in Lithuania has bought new equipment for therapy that uses the Biofeedback method: by a computer game a child practises self-control, concentration and attention. The method is particularly useful for those children who have learning, reading and writing difficulties, are hyperactive and have attention disorder.

Source: http://kurierwilenski.lt/2012/08/30/placowki-rejonu-wilenskiego-przygotowane-do-1-wrzesnia/

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