New Rules for Minority Schools. The Paluknys Problem Remains

The government’s decision to lower the minimum number of students in national minority school classes in the Vilnius, Šalčininkai, Trakai, and Švenčionys districts will make it easier for some municipalities to preserve smaller classes. However, it will not solve existing problems everywhere, district mayors point out. In Paluknys, the number of students is still too small to form a third gymnasium class.

Under the adopted changes, if a national minority school is the only such institution in a given locality, only eight students will be required to form a final-year class starting in September, instead of the previous 12. It has also been allowed for a school providing secondary education to operate with fewer than 60 students, regardless of the language of instruction.

The final decision on forming smaller classes will be made by municipal councils.

Paluknys still below the required minimum

The mayor of the Trakai district, Andrius Šatevičius, stresses that the new regulations do not solve the problem of the Longinas Komołowski Gymnasium in Paluknys.

As he noted, in all the other national minority schools in the Trakai district, student numbers already exceeded the previous threshold of 12. In Paluknys, however, the number of students finishing the second gymnasium grade does not even reach the new minimum of eight.

“That’s why it would not be possible to form a third-grade class even under the amended regulations. So the changes that have been adopted do not solve the problem that exists in the Trakai district,” Šatevičius said.

The dispute over the Polish institutions in the Trakai district has been ongoing since 2022. At that time, the municipality decided to reorganize the Andrzej Stelmachowski Primary School in Senieji Trakai and the Longinas Komołowski Gymnasium in Paluknys. The institutions are to be transformed into branches – of the gymnasium in Trakai and of the Henryk Sienkiewicz Gymnasium in Lentvaris, respectively. The municipality justified the decision by citing declining student numbers, rising school maintenance costs, and failure to meet applicable legal requirements. The reorganization met with opposition from the school communities, representatives of the Polish community in Lithuania and politicians from various groups in both Lithuania and Poland. Critics of the decision pointed to the risk of weakening Polish-language schooling and creating difficulties for students and teachers.

Political appeals to preserve the Polish schools

Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kęstutis Budrys, had previously said that the situation was harming Polish-Lithuanian relations. This week, the Speaker of the Seimas, Juozas Olekas, appealed to the Trakai district authorities to reconsider the reorganization decision.

The issue was also addressed by Radosław Gruk, an adviser to Polish President Karol Nawrocki who was visiting Lithuania. He announced his support for efforts aimed at preserving the Polish schools. 

Šatevičius, for his part, recalled that the municipality had proposed transferring both institutions under the authority of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, which would have allowed them to retain their current legal status. However, the proposal was not accepted.

“Therefore, a legitimate question arises: if this is really about preserving the legal status of these institutions, why was a solution that would have allowed this goal to be achieved rejected?” the mayor said.

Earlier this week, Šatevičius also assured that political and public pressure would not change the municipality’s decision. He stressed that court disputes concerning the reorganization had been resolved in favor of the Trakai District Municipality.

In the Švenčionys district, the changes bring greater certainty

The mayor of the Švenčionys district, Rimantas Klipčius, assesses that lowering the threshold to eight students will make it easier to form classes at the only national minority school operating in the district – the “Žeimena” Gymnasium in Pabradė.

“All the classes remain. The changes have given us a guarantee that the secondary-education classes will definitely continue to operate this school year and for several years to come,” Klipčius said.

At the same time, in the 2026–2027 school year, 12 students each have enrolled in third-year gymnasium classes with Polish and Russian as the languages of instruction, meaning that the classes could have been formed under the previous regulations as well.

According to the mayor, the new regulations demonstrate a flexible approach to national minority education in the eastern part of the country, but they do not solve the underlying problem – the declining population.

“This addresses the effects, not the causes. At the same time, we need to make sure that students in smaller classes receive the highest-quality education, have access to the extracurricular activities they need, and have appropriate conditions for socialization,” he noted.

Klipčius added that the changes will be particularly significant for municipalities with many small schools or branches in rural areas. In the Švenčionys district, he stressed, the school network is currently stable.

Last school year, there were 57 gymnasiums in Lithuania providing education in national minority languages. Thirty-three of them were located in the Vilnius, Šalčininkai, Trakai and Švenčionys districts. According to estimates, maintaining smaller gymnasium classes of between 8 and 11 students will cost the state budget approximately €1.03 million in 2026–2027.

Source: BNS