They will take care of the legal education of Lithuania’s citizens

Today in the Kazys Grinius Progimnazjum in Kaunas County, Juozas Bernatonis (Minister of Justice) and Dainius Pavalkis (Minister of Education and Science) signed a memorandum about the cooperation in the field of the legal education of the society.

Both ministries committed themselves to the renovation of the curriculum of the non-compulsory subject “Law” and the general curriculum concerning basic knowledge of citizenship rights in secondary schools.

Both departments will collaborate on working to include the legal education in school curricula at vocational schools, to create training programs for teachers and to support the legal education of the society, such as examination of the knowledge about the Constitution and informing the society about the various aspects of the legal system.

“Not only ministers or politicians need legal knowledge. Every citizen should have a basic knowledge from the field of law. A man with the knowledge of law will be an honest citizen of the state, respecting the country and its acts”, thinks J. Bernatonis, the Minister of Justice.

“All pupils are being acquainted with the Constitution, they are getting the fundamental knowledge about the rights of a human and a citizen. We are pleased that professional lawyers will join the civil education at schools which will help to create and renovate school curricula and will improve teachers’ qualifications”, says the Minister of Education and Science Prof. D. Pavalkis.

According to the poll conducted by „Baltijos tyrimai”, 83 percent of the citizens of Lithuania think that basic knowledge of the law should be taught at schools. The questionnaire showed that only a fifth part (21 percent) thinks that they have a sufficient knowledge to defend their rights, 34 percent of the respondents claims that they don’t have such a knowledge, and 30 percent needs additional information.

Most people lack information concerning the defense of human rights (35 percent), general knowledge in the field of the law (35 percent), and the remaining 35 percent of respondents emphasized that they were lacking information about the rights of the consumer.

Moreover, 28 percent of respondents admitted that they were lacking the knowledge concerning labour law and 21 percent the proprietary law.