E. Tamošiūnaitė: Fight for matura exams continues

“I am severely disappointed at the sentence of the court” – commented, expressing her bitter feelings, Edita Tamošiūnaitė, the deputy minister of education in Lithuania, working in affiliation with the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania. She regrets that such an unfavourable statement could have been expected, taking into consideration the controversial speeches of the Lithuanian President, Dalia Grybauskaitė, who is also the head of the judicial system in Lithuania. Yet, hope for the judicial autonomy and a pure common sense springs eternal… Tamošiūnaitė admits that the consequences of this decision will affect badly the next year’s graduates, as practically nothing can be done to improve their situation, but the fight to normalize the question about the matura exam in Lithuanian language still continues and everything depends on The Seimas of the Lithuanian Republic and… Mrs. President as well.

The term “the matura exam in Lithuanian language” itself evokes strong emotions, as the silent war for the future of non-Lithuanian schools has been conducted. In such schools students are taught in Polish and Russian throughout their whole education (there is also one Belarusian school in Vilnius). It is worth emphasizing that the problem clearly derives from introducing a centralised tertiary education admission system (in accordance with the newest European trends) which now requires passing one obligatory exam in Lithuanian language, whereas other subjects can be chosen freely by the students. Over the last 60 years, including 20 years of the independent Lithuania, no one felt disturbed by the fact that the students attending to non-Lithuanian schools took this exam under slightly different conditions (as it was their official language), seeing that for the Lithuanian graduates it was their native language. The centralization of matura exams gave rise to the better results of the Polish and Russian students and the fact that they were admitted to free-paying universities and highly regarded university courses as well – whereas their Lithuanian colleagues achieved distinctly less impressive results. This immediately resulted in an outrage of particular communities which demanded an instantaneous change of this situation.

It was generally assumed that the national minorities allegedly still have not managed to master the Lithuanian language, even though the Polish and Russian students have always immensely committed to their work (owing to the obvious reasons and their inferiority complex), communicating considerably more correctly (although less naturally, though), when compared to the native speakers. It has been already mentioned that the numerous Poles and Russians who attend to the Lithuanian schools are being exceptionally discriminated against and they tend to have difficulties in studying subjects in a foreign language, but it certainly does not concern the Lithuanian language classes. Therefore, such students frequently do not attain satisfactory results, which has been confirmed by the rankings published by Lithuanian schools, in which the vast majority of students is constituted by the Poles.

Regardless of the rational arguments and the willingness to heal the nuisance related to matura exams and the tertiary education admission system, the right-wing and liberal communities, which are currently in power, amended the education law and enforced the standardization of exam in Lithuanian language after merely two years, as if not taking into account the fact that over 10 last years both Lithuanian and Polish graduates had been studying in accordance with entirely different curricula. The practical skills of the Lithuanian language might have already reached roughly the same level, but due to the aforementioned variety of the curricula, there is still a tremendous difference concerning their acquaintance with the Lithuanian literature. The Lithuanian students are supposed to learn about a wide range of their native writers and poets, also including those not very highly regarded from the European perspective. The Poles and Russians have had so far a restrained curriculum concerning the Lithuanian literature, focusing significantly more only on the best-known writers, as they have had to learn also about their native and world literature.

With respect to an already appalling and still impairing readership index among the youth, the standardization of the final exam gave rise to a total chaos and panic amongst both Lithuanian teachers working with non-Lithuanian students and their parents. Students felt forced to neglect studying other subjects, even though this knowledge was inevitable for their future university course, let alone the Polish teachers, who apparently had to forget the meaning of the term: “essential reading”. The consequences are obvious, enough to invite you to the Polish schools in the Vilnius region to listen to the conversations of these students on a corridor or to have a chat with them, but not with the model students…

The recent amendment to the law and standardization of the exam can be interpreted only in terms of an attack on non-Lithuanian youth and schools. It resulted in anti-Lithuanian consolidation and success that the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania achieved in the general election to the parliament, becoming a part of the coalition in power and enforcing “concession” on its members. Unfortunately, the term “concession” was clearly misinterpreted and not corrected by the media, which was generally perceived as an evidence of discrimination against the Lithuanian graduates. The judges have clearly not noticed that this concession is of exactly the same sort, as putting a chair for the hanged person, so that he could take his last breath and loosen the loop around his neck…

The deadline for the Ministry of National Education to contribute to the wellbeing of the graduates, who will be taking the exam on the following year, is 1^st September. They will be given three, instead of two years (as it was primarily agreed) to catch up with others, making up for the past 10 years and over 800 class periods, stemming from the curriculum differences. Well, this is apparently what we can call the triumph of the lawful principle concerning the equality of the citizens. Further “concessions” should not be expected to be accepted by the ministry, as it promoted the idea of standardization nearly two years ago. These “concessions” got rejected by the court but were eventually enforced by the Electoral Action of Poles under threat of leaving the coalition. Therefore, the aforementioned factors make it even less possible. The amendments to the educational law have been already lodged in the Lithuanian Seimas. They could restore the previous system of taking the Lithuanian exam or – at least – postpone its standardization (it is also dependent on the minister, who, for some mysterious reasons, has not seized this opportunity, yet deciding upon ratification of “concessions”…). Were the The Seimas of the Lithuanian Republic to ratify them in order to keep proper relations with Warsaw, due to holding European presidency, would the Lithuanian President sign it, taking into consideration her unambiguous statement concerning this issue?

Ironically, the role of the Lithuanian language itself does not appear to play the most significant role, in spite of “the fight for the superior value of Lithuania”, as it was defined and emphasized by the court and the President in her proclamation. From the very beginning of the “war” some sensible Lithuanian linguists have indicated that this chaos would neither contribute to a better and more efficient learning of the Lithuanian language, nor to its greater popularity amongst non-Lithuanians. Instead, it will evoke a natural aggression, as a reaction to this enforcement. In the first decade of Lithuanian independence, the young Poles and Russians were not ashamed to admit their their inferiority complex due to their poor language skills in Lithuanian. In the times of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic they did not have to acquire such, as their official language was Russian, which was mastered to perfection by Vilnius Poles and it still remains a native language for many of them.

Since then, after 20 years, much has changed, so that Lithuanian is perceived as equally natural, as Russian used to be for their grandparents (but in all that chaos Polish seems to have somehow disappeared). The Lithuanian linguists have been appealing for the enhancement and improvement of both the level and teaching curriculum in non-Lithuanian schools with respect to the necessary changes, as it seems to have stuck in the early 90s… An obvious solution does not consist in standardizing the exam, but establishing equal requirements, with special reference to the curriculum differences.

The fuss about the matura exams has achieved the aim set by its initiators, deputies of the right-wing and liberal communities: it has shaken the foundations of the parents’ faith in the future of the Polish and Russian schools. Since the exam in Lithuanian is supposed to be set on the level of their native language, perhaps it would be better to learn it by immersing in the community, where it serves as a mother tongue? Hence, parents who set great store by the wellbeing of their children are prone to neglect the fact that students in the Lithuanian schools are being constantly indoctrinated, both deliberately and unintentionally (through the environment), which makes them reluctant towards everything which is related to Poland. In purely Polish and Russian communities there is also no longer one unambiguous opinion or endeavour for restoring the bilingual matura exam, which would justify the existence of non-Lithuanian schools. More and more educationalist and politicians claim that the compromise and agreement concerning the standardization might be beneficial, provided that it would be introduced after 8 or – preferably – 12 years, thus, by the time when the children will have already got accustomed to the new curriculum… It still remains a fundamental question, seeing that this new curriculum of teaching the Lithuanian language is currently being worked on and that on its requirements depends the nearest future of the Polish and Russian students –  whether they will have “the second native language” and if so, then since when – 9^th, 5^th or perhaps the 1^st year?

Edita Tamošiūnaitė, the Lithuanian deputy minister of education, is descended from Polish-Lithuanian ethnical community and graduated from the department of Lithuanian Philology, so that we could not ask her about her personal impressions after this year’s first “standardized” matura exam in Lithuanian and the topics, which were appraised entirely different by the graduates attending to the Polish schools.

Source: http://www.wilnoteka.lt/pl/tresc/e-tamosiunaite-walka-o-mature-trwa

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