Vice-chancellor of VU: Facilitations on exam discriminate students

Prof. Jūras Banys, vice-chancellor of the Vilnius University, announced that after politicians decided to facilitate the Lithuanian language “maturity exam”, taken at the end of secondary education, the university considers two options: either to ignore results from the said exam, or to introduce a special entry exam.

“The aim of a university is to enrol those who are the most knowledgeable about a given subject.

If an exam, or a method of grading that exam, is not unified for all students, how can accept everyone on equal terms? If we cannot compare the levels of knowledge of the Lithuanian language, either of the groups can be harmed. It is a fact that we are facing segregation. Which of the two groups will be harmed more is a different question, but it is evident that one of them will be discriminated by another,” Banys commented.

According to the current vice-chancellor, there are two ways out of this situation: either not to consider the results of the “maturity exam” or to introduce an entry exam. According to the scholar, it always ends badly when politicians try to meddle in education.

“When politics interfere with education, education recedes into the background.

Politics and education are contradictory. (…) I’m sorry, but in Lithuania, a free and democratic country, all citizens should be treated equally. That’s why it is unacceptable when one group of citizens or students is discriminated by another,” emphasised prof. Jūras Banys.

The Minister of Education and Science, Dainius Pavalkis, ratified facilitations for minority school students in the Lithuanian language “maturity exam”. Students from minority schools will write a shorter essay than those from Lithuanian schools: such an essay should consist of 400 to 500 words in state examination and 250 to 350 in a school exam.

Students from schools other than Lithuanian will also be allowed to make more mistakes, and to use dictionaries. Moreover, students of all schools will be able to choose not from 3, but as many as 7 authors, to whose works they will have to refer in their  essays.

Source: http://pl.delfi.lt/aktualia/litwa/rektor-uw-ulgi-na-egzaminie-dyskryminuja-uczniow.d?id=60969185

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