Polish education in the Trakai district in decline

A bitter ”gift” for the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Polish-Lithuanian Treaty of Friendly Relations and Good-Neighbourly Cooperation was prepared by the councillors of the Trakai district local authorities. They decided that the Longin Komolovskiy junior high school in Polukhin will lose its status as a junior high school and be downgraded to a school providing education in grades 1-10. In addition, this Polish-language facility will lose its autonomous status and be transformed into a branch of the Henryk Sienkiewicz junior high school in Landvarov, some 20km away. The decision to reorganise was taken at a council meeting on 25 April. The parents of the students believe that the decision of the local council was unlawful and announce that they will go to court once again.

The fate of the facility was decided by a majority of councillors from the ruling coalition of Liberals, Conservatives and the Lithuanian Farmers’ and Greens’ Union. Their vote on the reorganisation of the Polish school in the Trakai district was a “repeat” of a month ago. In March, a similar fate befell the Andrzej Stelmachowski Primary School in Old Trakai.

– We are shocked by the latest decision of the local authorities. Not so long ago, representatives of the administration of the Trakai District local authorities assured us that the status of the junior high school and the distinctiveness of our school would be preserved. Meanwhile, unexpectedly, at a council meeting on the 25th of April, the question of reorganisation of Longin Komolovskiy junior high school in Polukhin appeared on the agenda,” Renata Krasowska, the head of the institution, reports for Kurier Wileński.

A week earlier, on the 17th of April, representatives of the school’s council addressed the mayor and councillors with a written request, asking that the Komolovskiy junior high school be allowed to implement the secondary education plan jointly with the neighbouring Lithuanian-language Medeinos junior high school in Polukun. In the event that a decision was taken to demote the junior high school to a school providing teaching in grades 1-10, the parents asked that at least the autonomous legal status of the institution be preserved.

However, the councillors ignored this request.

– We were not heard at all,” regrets the headmaster.

Council decision – in violation of the law

The authorities in the Trakai district decided to reorganise the Polish school in Polukun two years ago, citing a lack of the required number of students in the upper grades. Even then, they abolished grades 11 and 12. The school community challenged the reorganisation decision in court.

As we are told by an interviewee, the case regarding the reorganisation of the school is pending, and the reorganisation has been put on hold while the case is being heard, as the court has taken precautionary measures.

– This means that the district authority cannot take any action regarding Komolovsky Junior High School. By reorganising the school, the local authority is in breach of the court’s order and is therefore in breach of the law and even the Constitution,” explains the headmaster.

Despite this, the district council decided to carry out the reorganisation even before the court decision was announced.

Misleading

As Headmaster Krasowska adds, an untruthful statement by the deputy mayor that the school community lost in all courts without the possibility of appeal was published in the media, which is not true.

In a statement to the LRT, the deputy mayor of the Trakai district, Jonas Kietavičius, said that the local authorities were only continuing the decisions made in 2022. In his opinion, the Polukunjunior high school cannot operate as an autonomous educational institution, as most classes lack the minimum number of students. “The school operates as a junior high school, but without grades 11 and 12,” the Lithuanian politician said.

As the head of the school emphasises, national minority schools have the right to have smaller class sizes, even as few as 5 students. The school has to have the required minimum of 60 students in total in order to function.

– Currently, there are 109 students in the Polukun junior high school. We have no combined classes. The school meets all formal and legal requirements. It achieves good academic results. There is a demand for the existence of this facility. There are no reasons to demote the school,” stresses Renata Krasowska.

It is worth noting that the Polukun junior high school is the only one in Lithuania to provide unique teaching: education here is integrated with the implementation of theoretical knowledge and practical skills in beekeeping, and students are not only involved in protecting bees, but are also able to take care of the bee colonies that live in hives in the school yard.

The Council meeting

– Disregarding the fact that precautionary measures had been taken and the Polish faction had requested that Question No. 2.29 on the reorganisation of Komolov junior high school be deleted from the agenda due to these precautionary measures, the Council of the local government of the Trakai district still brought up the decision to reorganise the school. The question is, is it at all normal that in a democratic state under the rule of law a local government can allow itself to ignore court decisions? This is an unlawful decision, there is no other way to call it,” comments Agnieszka Rynkiewicz, councillor of the Trakai District Local Government.

Unequal treatment

According to the L24 portal, four educational facilities are being reorganised in the Trakai district: two with Lithuanian language of teaching and two with Polish. However, in two Lithuanian schools, only two classes are being abolished, but an independent legal status is being left, while two Polish establishments are being demoted completely – they become branches of other schools.

Councillor Grażyna Golubowska asked the authorities why the reorganised Polish schools are deprived of their previous autonomous legal status, while the Lithuanian ones are not? Referring to the data made available by the Department of Education, she stated that in the former Donatas Malinauskas junior high school in Hanušiškės (now Donatas Malinauskas primary school), expenditure per one student was EUR 6.8 in 2022, while in the Longin Komolovský junior high school in Polukės it was EUR 6.8. Longin Komolowski Junior High School in Polukun – 6.1, and in the Andrzej Stelmachowski Primary School in Old Trakai – 5.8. “This begs the question, why, of these three schools, should Polish schools lose their legal status?” – the councillor asked.

Councillor Jarosław Narkiewicz also appealed to the Council not to take up the issue of reorganising the school in Polukun. He stressed that both the planned transformation of the school in Polukun and the reorganisation of the school in Old Trakai, carried out a month ago, were “political decisions, not justified by necessity”.

At a meeting on 25 April, 14 councillors voted in favour of merging the Polish junior high school in Polukunė with the Henryk Sienkiewicz junior high school in Landvara, 11 councillors were against. Councillors opposed to the degradation of the Polish school will make an official request to the Lithuanian Prime Minister, and the Minister of Justice, respectively.

The beginning of the end?

In the headmaster’s opinion, transforming a school into a branch means its gradual liquidation.

– I know from experience that the existence of branches is a matter of 2-3 years, after which they disappear on their own,” concludes Renata Krasowska.

The changes would come into effect from the new school year.