Pitrenienė responded to Rostkowska

The Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania Audronė Pitrenienė responded to a letter from the Minister of National Education of the Republic of Poland Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska in which she expressed concern over the future of Polish schools in Lithuania.

„Lithuania did not accept any amendments to the law which would worsen the conditions of mother tongue education. To the contrary, our goal is for the students from national minorities to be able to also learn their mother tongue in schools which have Lithuanian as the teaching language” – the Minister wrote to her Polish counterpart.

Pitrenienė explained the reasons that contribute to the deterioration of the schools network in all municipalities in the country, and reminded all that similar tendencies can be observed in Poland. In that context she mentioned the low birth rate.

„During the last 15 years, the number of children atteding high schools decreased by nearly 40%. Obviously, this demographic tendecy had an impact on the school network. The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania wanted children to go to school as close to their place of residence as possible. For that reason, the Seimas changed the rules for creating the school networks which execute formal teaching programmes. A smaller required number of students and more financing for village schools were accepted. We granted even more consessions to the schools of national minorities” – enumerates the Minister of Education in her letter.

Pitrenienė also expressed hope for mutual co-operation on the issue of the education of national minorities.