Compulsory “immersion” in Lithuanian. Will Polish schools be an exception?

On April 2nd, members of the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) party submitted amendments to the Education Act aimed at expanding the use of the Lithuanian language in kindergartens and schools for national minorities. The proposal assumes that the amended law would come into force as early as September 1st of this year.

“The draft amendments address the issue of integrating part of our society, as the state language is the best way to integrate into the life of the state,” explained the need for change Laurynas Kasčiūnas, leader of the conservatives, during a press conference.

“We must address the challenges not only concerning students from our national minorities but also those involving citizens of third countries who have come to Lithuania temporarily or permanently,” he added.

Kasčiūnas: Education in Kindergartens Only in Lithuanian

The draft Education Act proposes that kindergartens should provide education exclusively in the Lithuanian language, with the possibility of learning the language and literature of a national minority.

“Currently, the rule is that only five hours of Lithuanian language instruction per week are required. Our proposal is that at the preschool level, all teaching—except for the native language—should be conducted in the state language,” said Kasčiūnas.

The proposed amendment to Article 30, Part 2 of the Education Act states:

“1) Preschool and pre-primary education programs shall be implemented in the state language, except in cases where education is provided in the language of a national minority supported under bilateral or multilateral international agreements of the Republic of Lithuania with European Union member states, in which case at least five hours per week must be devoted to learning in the Lithuanian language.”

At least 50% of subjects in the Lithuanian language

The project proposes that schools with national minorities must introduce a requirement that all social subjects—history, geography, citizenship lessons, economics and entrepreneurship, and philosophy—be taught in Lithuanian.

According to the leader of the conservatives, currently, only 5% of subjects in such schools are taught in Lithuanian. The proposed changes would extend this to 50% of subjects.

The proposed amendment to Article 30, part 2.2 suggests the following wording: “2) Education in primary, secondary, and high schools is conducted in a bilingual mode: in the minority language and in Lithuanian. Lithuanian is taught according to the curriculum at the primary, secondary, and high school levels through the teaching of social subjects, except in cases where teaching is conducted in a minority language supported by bilateral or multilateral international agreements between the Republic of Lithuania and European Union member states.”

Polish schools as an exception?

“The amendments are directed at Russian-speaking educational institutions in Lithuania. Due to signed international agreements, the Polish language is an exception,” Laurynas Kasčiūnas clarified during a press conference.

According to Kasčiūnas, the exception should also apply to the Vilnius-based Franciszek Skaryna Gymnasium, where teaching is conducted in Belarusian.

Additionally, the proposal foresees the possibility of creating classes in Lithuanian in schools where the primary language of instruction is the minority language. The proponents believe this solution will be particularly useful in the Vilnius region.

Narkiewicz: This is unnecessary and unacceptable

“Even if we assume that, based on the Polish-Lithuanian treaty on friendly relations and good neighborly cooperation, the changes won’t apply to Polish schools, which is highly questionable, still, singling out one national minority is, in my opinion, not in line with the Constitution,” says Jarosław Narkiewicz, MP from the AWPL-ZChR and a member of the parliamentary education committee, in an interview with TVP Vilnius.

“The author of the amendments aims to ‘Lithuanize’ the entire teaching process. This is the wrong path. It is unnecessary and unacceptable. This is another nationalist move whose purpose I do not understand. But there is still a long way to go before the amendments are adopted. From the point of view of the Constitution, which guarantees equal rights and the opportunity to be educated in one’s native language, this amendment is unacceptable. We will speak out loudly about this and also persuade and argue against it,” the MP promises.

Dzierżyńska: More doesn’t mean better

Krystyna Dzierżyńska, president of the Polish Teachers Association in Lithuania “Macierz Szkolna,” emphasized in an interview with TVP Vilnius that she viewed the proposed amendment to the education law negatively.

– There is still talk about the need for “immersion” in the Lithuanian language. Yes, we agree with this. We constantly emphasize that we want to master the Lithuanian language as well as possible. But the other side doesn’t hear what we keep pointing out. We talk about the missing tools that are needed to improve the quality of Lithuanian teaching. We talk about the insufficient training of Lithuanian teachers for work in minority schools. We feel that these needs have been ignored for years, lamented our interviewee.

She also adds that unequal treatment of education for different national minorities is at least strange.

– It’s great that international agreements with EU countries are mentioned, but usually, when changes affect the schools of one minority, they will also apply to other schools. Unless two separate education laws are passed in our country, with different provisions, Dzierżyńska comments.

She also points out that the idea of increasing the number of Lithuanian language teaching hours is not new.

– I remember last year, the Vice-Mayor of Vilnius, Šileris, talked about the widespread need to establish Lithuanian language classes in schools of national minorities. In fact, this idea persists, and after the amendment to the law is adopted, it will become a general obligation. However, I dare doubt that this can be called taking care of national minorities, she says.

– There is no doubt that the proposed changes will not bring tangible results in terms of better knowledge of the Lithuanian language. The effect will only be visible on paper, in the table, where there will be more hours. However, if there are no appropriate tools, no appropriate textbooks for teaching Lithuanian, no appropriate teachers, the additional number of hours will not improve the quality of teaching, she firmly believes.

Ministry encourages discussion

In response to the proposed amendments to the education law, the Ministry of Education has called for discussion of the proposals with the relevant communities.

Jonas Petkevičius, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, and Sport, told the BNS agency that he understands the need for every citizen and resident of Lithuania to speak Lithuanian fluently, but emphasized that the proposals should be discussed with the communities of the schools for which they would be relevant.

“The Education Law guarantees education in the minority language if the parents wish so. The law also provides that the teaching of the Lithuanian language in minority schools must be given at least as much time as the teaching of the native language,” stated the deputy minister in a written comment.

He also emphasized that the draft general education plans for the upcoming and next school year (2026-2027) include a new provision aimed at increasing the number of Lithuanian language and literature lessons in primary classes in minority schools. According to him, this project should be approved next week.

The previous reform failed the test

In March 2011, Lithuania conducted its first educational reform for national minorities since regaining independence in 1990. The reform aimed to strengthen the role of the Lithuanian language in minority schools. It introduced the teaching of certain subjects (Lithuanian history, geography, and civic lessons) in Lithuanian. Additionally, despite differences in curricula and a significantly smaller number of Lithuanian language teaching hours (by 800 hours), starting in 2013, a unified Lithuanian language exam for students from both minority schools and schools with Lithuanian as the language of instruction became mandatory.

This last change met with strong opposition from Polish communities in schools. A petition expressing opposition to the introduced changes was signed by 60,000 Poles. It was emphasized that the reform was being imposed from above, without real consultations with the minority communities.

The unified exam was introduced in 2013, resulting in a significant deterioration in the Lithuanian language exam results in minority schools. In 2012, only 6% of students from national minority schools failed the Lithuanian language exam, but in 2013 (after the unified exam was implemented), this number rose to 11.8%, and in 2014, it reached 16.3%.The poor results in the first years following the reform could be explained by the fact that students had to catch up with curriculum gaps and make up for two years’ worth of secondary school material. However, 14 years have passed since the reform, and students from national minority schools still perform significantly worse in the Lithuanian language exam.

The numbers are telling: last year, 91.1% of final-year students in Lithuania passed the Lithuanian language state exam. In schools where Polish is the language of instruction, this percentage was much lower—79%. This means that for 21% of candidates from Polish schools, failing the Lithuanian language exam closed the door to higher education.

In 2023, 92.8% of students from Lithuanian-language schools passed the Lithuanian language exam, while 84.02% of students from Polish schools did. The year before, in 2022, the results were 92% and 82.33%, respectively. In 2020, 19% of students from national minority schools failed the exam, in 2019—21%, and in 2018—19.3%.

If the 2011 education reform aimed to improve the knowledge of the state language, it appears to have failed. Increasing the number of Lithuanian language lessons and unifying the final exam has not yielded the expected results. This is not surprising given that the real needs of the minority communities continue to be overlooked.

Principals, teachers, parents, and even the students themselves constantly talk about these needs: that it is necessary to introduce a Lithuanian language curriculum suited to the level of younger students in minority schools, to equip schools with appropriate textbooks and educational tools, and to train Lithuanian language teachers for work in minority schools.

Teaching minority languages and teaching in the native language is one of the fundamental rights of minorities. A deeper “immersion” in the state language could have tragic consequences.

Some statistics:

According to the Ministry of Education, Science, and Sport, there are currently 25 schools in Lithuania with Russian as the language of instruction, including elementary, progymnasium, and gymnasium schools, as well as several preschool and special education schools. There are also 18 mixed schools where Polish and Russian, Lithuanian and Russian, or all three languages are taught. A total of 12.8 thousand students are enrolled in schools with Russian as the language of instruction, out of 300 thousand students in the country. According to data from “Macierz Szkolna,” there are currently 65 schools in Lithuania, including branches, where Polish is the language of instruction, serving over 11 thousand students.