The national Lithuanian language exam is being passed successfully by a lower percentage of minority school graduates compared to percentage of graduates from non-minority schools.[3] Moreover, the percentage of those who do not pass this exam increases among minority school graduates with every year: it was 16% in 2016, 19% in 2017 and 23% in 2018.[4] This happens in spite of the fact that the evaluation criteria for this exam from minority school graduates are less strict than for the one from the majority school graduates. However, starting with 2020 the evaluation criteria for the national Lithuanian language exam will be equalised for graduates of minority and majority secondary schools.[5]

Under these circumstances the law amendment proposal by Kasčiūnas, Bilotaitė and Ažubalis could be seen as an attempt to accelerate the Lithuanian language learning in minority schools. Currently, the subjects taught in the Lithuanian language at the main and secondary level minority schools are these: Lithuanian history, geography, world cognition and fundamentals of civic education. The amendment proposes to teach 60% of the entire curriculum in the Lithuanian language, while the rest 40% would be taught in a minority language.[6]

The initiators of amendment do not hide that the ratio of 60%/40% was copied from the Latvian education system (which, in turn, was copied from Estonia) and targets, first of all, 77 Polish schools with 11 thousand pupils. The aims of the law amendment are clear, however, the law initiators do not take comprehensively into accout the entire system of minority school education and do not foresee any investments in textbooks and relevant education of teachers. According to Józef Kwiatkowski, the president of the Teachers Association of Polish Schools in Lithuania, “the Lithuanian national exam was introduced without textbooks and relevant preparation.”[7] Czesław Dawidowicz, director of the school “Vilniaus Adomo Mickevičiaus gimnazija” (Polish: Gimnazjum im. Adama Mickiewicza w Wilnie), similarly indicates that there are no textbooks for pupils that would enable a smooth transition from the primary level to the level of the main and secondary school levels.[8]

Secondly, although the law initiators deny it, the proposed amendments interfere with the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM) and limit its application. According to the FCNM Article 14(2), “In areas inhabited by persons belonging to national minorities traditionally or in substantial numbers, if there is sufficient demand, the Parties shall endeavour to ensure, as far as possible and within the framework of their education systems, that persons belonging to those minorities have adequate opportunities for being taught the minority language or for receiving instruction in this language”.[9] The prescription to decrease the teaching of minority languages to 40% in minority schools proposed by conservative MPs and possibly approved by the Seimas “would not only violate the self-governing principles of minority community and its right to decide on additional hours for the official language teaching but also would question the status of a minority school itself – the characteristics of a minority school is that its founders or its community decide to which extent the minority language is being taught.”[10]

However, a one more opportunity to discuss how and to which extent the Lithuanian language could be taught in minority schools arose most recently between Jurgita Petrauskienė, Minister of Education and Science of Lithuania, and Anna Zalewska, Minister of National Education of Poland, on 31 August 2018. The ministers of both countries proposed to establish the group of experts between ministries suggesting the guidelines for solving the issue by the end of this year.[11]

References:

[1] These MPs are Laurynas Kasčiūnas, Agnė Bilotaitė and Audronius Ažubalis from the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (Tėvynės sąjunga – Lietuvos krikščionys demokratai) faction.
[2] This draft amendment no. XIIIP-2413 concerns the education law no. I-1489, article 30, part 2. Source: Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, https://e-seimas.lrs.lt/portal/legalAct/lt/TAP/43d105008f4411e8aa33fe8f0fea665f?positionInSearchResults=0&searchModelUUID=46e13745-bd68-4cf4-8bdb-c7a2895e933f. The draft law partly contradicts itself since the change in the second paragraph of the second part of this law due to necessary transitional period would come into effect from 1 January 2023, and not 1 September 2019.
[3] For instance, 80.7% compared to 89.5% in 2017 according to the data of the National Examination Centre. See: Skelbiami lietuvių kalbos ir literatūros valstybinio brandos egzamino rezultatai, National Examination Centre, 03.07.2017, http://www.nec.lt/naujienos/734/.
[4] Figures taken from the interview with Józef Kwiatkowski, “Panorama” news in the Lithuanian national TV, 31.08.2018, https://www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasai#/limit/60/content/Panorama.
[5] National Examination Centre, op.cit., note 3 above.
[6] Aiškinamasis raštas dėl Švietimo įstatymo Nr. I-1489 30 straipsnio pakeitimo įstatymo projekto, Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, https://e-seimas.lrs.lt/portal/legalAct/lt/TAK/81984bf08f4411e8aa33fe8f0fea665f?jfwid=-2icx9dtk4.
[7] “Panorama” news in the Lithuanian national TV, op.cit., note 4 above.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Council of Europe, The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, https://rm.coe.int/16800c10cf.
[10] Teisės departamento išvada dėl Švietimo įstatymo Nr. I-1489 30 straipsnio pakeitimo įstatymo projekto, Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, https://e-seimas.lrs.lt/portal/legalAct/lt/TAK/4b3f4870a52d11e8aa33fe8f0fea665f?jfwid=-2icx9dtk4.
[11] “Panorama” news in the Lithuanian national TV, op.cit., note 4 above.

Image: © Kiryl Kascian