It’s time for school!

Today, 1035 first-grade students began their education in schools with Polish as their language of instruction in Lithuania. Every child got a good-luck present, namely a rucksack with all school accessories, from the Association of Polish Teachers in Lithuania “Macierz Szkolna”. 

Józef Kwiatkowski, a chairman of the Association of Polish Teachers in Lithuania “Macierz Szkolna”, said that 1035 students were enrolled for the first-grade that year, and he added that in recent years the number of students enrolled for the first-grade in Polish schools in Lithuania had been stabilizing, oscillating between 1010 and 1050.

In spite of the language of instruction, the number of children in Lithuanian schools is decreasing. However, one of the Polish schools can be proud of its increase, namely the John Paul II Lower-Secondary School in Vilnius [Progimnazjum im. Jana Pawła II w Wilnie]. “The school is growing, your family has 45 new members. The Vilnius city municipality has realised it too so the tender for 5 millions Lithuanian litas is conducted for the future renovation of the school.” said Edyta Tamosiunaitė, a Deputy Director of Administration in the Vilnius city municipality during the ceremony of the start of the school year in the John Paul II Lower-Secondary School in Vilnius.

Thanks to, among other things, money from the Vilnius city municipality, the long-awaited renovation of the school is going to take place. The school’s most urgent needs are new windows and the roof renovation.

Currently, in Lithuania there are 99 Polish schools. The number includes branches as well.

Based on: “Znad Wilii” Radio

Source: http://www.wilnoteka.lt/pl/artykul/czas-do-szkoly

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