Arūnas Šileris: “There is no obligation to open Lithuanian language classes in minority schools”

At the beginning of this year, the capital’s minority schools received controversial guidelines from the local government. They were to increase the number of Lithuanian lessons by 2 hours per week, as well as ensure an increase of at least 10 per cent in the number of high school graduates taking the state Lithuanian language exam. The most controversial was the “additional desired goal” (lit. pageidautinas papildomas siekinys).

It indicated the opening of classes with the Lithuanian language of teaching in national minority schools. The school community especially received the latter recommendation with concern that it would turn out to be a kind of “Trojan horse” and would be disastrous for the continuity and uniformity of the Polish school.

At the beginning of February, representatives of the local government began to visit some Polish schools, explicitly demanding that rooms be made available for Lithuanian classes. The community of the Primary School in Antokol, as well as the Primary School in “Kolonia Wileńska”(a historic town near Vilnius, now part of Vilnius), did not agree to this.

Now, in an interview with the “Kurier Wileński”, the vice-mayor emphasises: “There is no pressure here. If a headmaster wants to open such a (Lithuanian – from the author) class , he opens it, if he does not want – he does not open it”.

In an interview with “Kurier Wileński”, vice-mayor of Vilnius Arūnas Šileris assured that national minority schools, which do not create the first classes with the Lithuanian language of teaching, are not threatened with any consequences, because… they have not been given such a task. Lithuanian classes would only be “an additional desirable goal”.

Without pressure

– Vilnius national minority schools have not been given the task of opening the first classes in Lithuanian language. In the regulation on motivating school headmasters, we decided to encourage such school headmasters, who decide to open one or two classes in Lithuanian language in their schools. If I am not mistaken, after opening one class, there is a 5% incentive allowance, two classes – a 10% allowance. There is no pressure here. If a headmaster wants to open such a class, he opens it, if he does not want to – he does not open it – assures vice-mayor Arūnas Šileris in an interview with “Kurier Wileński”.

As he added, motivational allowances are granted for various types of activities.

– Those who, for example, implement international programmes, teach Ukrainians, take care of children with special educational needs, receive motivational allowances, he explains.

The creation of a class with the Lithuanian language of instruction in a national minority school is connected with the change of the school statute. Two schools have already changed their statutes.

– Lithuanian as a language of teaching has been introduced by two educational institutions in Vilnius – Žaros Junior High School and Lipovka Primary School. They have the right to conduct classes in the Lithuanian language. I would like to point out that the decision on the possibility of providing education in Lithuanian was taken by the councils of these educational institutions. The inclusion of the Lithuanian language in the school regulations as one of the languages of education means that a school can start education in Lithuanian if classes are created whose students (parents and guardians of students) express their desire to learn in Lithuanian and additionally in their mother tongue,” Arūnas Šileris comments to our journal.

Under pressure

– The vice-mayor visited our school at the end of January. During the meeting he tried to force the School Council to change the school statute and include Lithuanian as the third language of teaching, alongside Polish and Russian. The school community strongly opposed the mayor’s proposals and the School Council sent many complaints to various institutions. However, we did not receive any official answers,” Aneta Gracjana Lapcun, the headmistress of the Antokol Primary School, which has a Polish and Russian section, reports in an interview with the ‘Kurier Wileński’. The school teaches from preschool to grade 4.

She says that the School Council received a reply from the local government that the vice-mayor’s letter with guidelines for schools for the current year was not obligatory, but rather a recommendation.

– Thus, we do not have to follow these recommendations. But it is distasteful. It says one thing, but the reality is a little different. Apparently, nothing is happening at the moment, we are completing classes with Polish and Russian language of teaching. The facility continues to operate, but we are constantly accompanied by anxiety and uncertainty. We’re a young institution, we’re just starting up, and such things are very disruptive,” she says.

The headmaster of the Polish-Russian school in Antokol is pleased that the school community was firm and did not agree with the proposal to create a class with the Lithuanian language of instruction. She stresses that the community is certainly not against the teaching of the Lithuanian language. On the contrary, she asked the local government to allocate additional posts for Lithuanian language teachers.

– We have many children from Belarus at school who would like to learn more about the Lithuanian language. The local authorities granted our request and allocated additional posts for teaching the state language, says the headmistress.

This is the only plus in this situation.

– In the case of our school, the request to open a class with the Lithuanian language of teaching is impossible, because our school is too small. I do not have the possibility to create a third division. Opening a Lithuanian class means that I have to eliminate a class, either Polish or Russian. This is unfair and stinks of discrimination,” emphasises the headmistress.

There is no shortage of schools providing education in Lithuanian

As we have already written (KW, “Vilnius non-Lithuanian schools – unfeasible tasks from the vice-mayor”, on the 1st of February this year), in January the vice-mayor of the Vilnius local government sent out to all Vilnius schools guidelines for their work for the current year. These tasks for the headmasters of general education establishments are defined according to procedure by the mayor, but this year the official letter, outlining the guidelines and the expected results of the schools’ work, was signed by vice-mayor Arūnas Šileris.

One of the tasks that the school communities assessed as absurd, hasty and ill-considered concerned establishments providing education in the language of national minorities. In the guidelines, the opening of classes with the Lithuanian language of teaching in national minorities’ schools was indicated as an “additional desirable goal”. The indicator of the accomplished task would be the creation of at least one first class, in which teaching according to the model described above would start on 1 September 2024.

– If a parent, regardless of his or her nationality, comes to the conclusion that he or she wants to educate a child in Lithuanian, there is really no shortage of schools with the Lithuanian language of teaching in Vilnius and at any time this child can send it to such a school,” comments Krystyna Dzierżyńska, President of the Association of Teachers of Polish Schools in Lithuania “Macierz Szkolna”, on the decision of the vice-mayor.

As she added, minority schools count on constructive proposals, not harmful ideas that sow destruction. As far as the better quality of teaching of the state language is concerned, minority schools care first and foremost about properly prepared core curricula, appropriate teaching methodology, adapted textbooks, and prepared teachers.