19th “Polish Children at Polish Schools” Conference

Many guests came to the 19 “Polish Children at Polish Schools” Conference held at Dom Kultury Polskiej (Polish Cultural Centre) in Vilnius, including teachers, representatives of local governments, and social activists from the Vilnius Region. For nineteen years, every June after the end of a school year, The Vilnius Division of the Association of Poles in Lithuania have been organizing a discussion on education in Polish. 

In the 2013-2014 school year, 7,757 students attended the schools administered by the Vilnius District Municipality, including 4,226 (over 54.5%) in Polish classes. According to the Division of Education of the Vilnius District Municipality, 75,7% children from Polish families are taught in their native language. The chief of the Division of Education of the Vilnius District Municipality Lilia Andruszkiewicz presented data on the education in the Vilnius Region.

For now, only part of the results of this year’s graduation exam has been revealed but Lilia Andruszkiewicz emphasized that last year, a graduate from Rudomino Mariusz Wojtkun, had got one of the best scores in the country; he received the perfect score at five exams. Over 69% of graduates of Polish schools enter higher education.

The deputy mayor of the Vilnius District Municipality Jan Gabriel Mincewicz asked the teachers to take care of the correct use of the native language not only during Polish language lessons but also during other subjects as well.

The participants of the conference formed “The Appeal to Polish Parents,” in which they call upon Polish families not to relent to “the lying and unjustified agitation of advocates of Lithuanization of education for national minorities.”

“We ask you, Polish Parents, to send your children to Polish schools. Let the title of our conference, ‘Polish Children at Polish Schools’ be your motto. Thanks to that, we will be able to raise our children, without them being subjected to unnecessary stress; to raise them to be Poles–worthy citizens of the Republic of Lithuania. They will never hold a grudge against you for making a wrong decision for them, when they were not mature enough to make decisions on their own,” the Appeal says.

Based on: awpl.lt, inf.wł.

Source: http://www.wilnoteka.lt/pl/artykul/xix-konferencja-quotpolskie-dziecko-w-polskiej-szkolequot

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