Lithuania's Education Minister, Gintautas Jakštas, has proposed a significant change in the country's education system. Following the examples set by neighboring Latvia and Estonia, Jakštas suggests phasing out secondary education conducted in the Russian language. This is reported by lrt.lt,
In Lithuania, Russians form the second-largest ethnic minority, with approximately 14,000 students attending Russian-language schools. According to Jakštas, this reform aims to focus on EU languages and promote education in minority languages, provided these minorities come from friendly countries, like Ukraine.
He believes that Lithuania can learn from the approaches of Latvia and Estonia, which have not only stopped education in Russian but also are considering ceasing the teaching of Russian as a foreign language.
Jakštas mentioned during his interview with Žinių Radijas radio that while Russian schools in Lithuania won't be closed, especially given the school shortage in cities like Vilnius and Klaipėda, there should be a change in the language of instruction.
This change could involve teaching more subjects in Lithuanian or entirely switching to Lithuanian education for children just starting their education. He emphasized that the transition should be gradual, beginning with new classes, and noted that it should not be difficult for teachers at Russian schools to switch to teaching in Lithuanian, as they are already proficient in the state language.
The discussions around minority schools were sparked by an incident at a Russian school where teenagers fired a pneumatic weapon at a classmate, allegedly due to disagreements over the war in Ukraine. However, Jakštas insists that his proposals should not be associated with this incident, emphasizing understanding and caution against labelling the involved children.
