News

The group of experts (hereinafter referred to as ‘expert group’) that was set up in compliance with the agreement between Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius and Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland D.Tusk to discuss educational issues of the Polish minority in Lithuania and the Lithuanian minority in Poland held its second meeting on 19 September 2011 in Warsaw. The first meeting of the expert group took place in Druskininkai on 12 September 2011.

Members of the expert group stressed the progress in addressing the issues that were important to the Polish minority in Lithuania and the Lithuanian minority in Poland.

Members of the expert group agreed that:

1.  The implementation of the provision of the Article 38 of the Law on Education of the Republic of Lithuania regarding the examination according to the general programme of school leaving examinations that is approved by the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania, does not mean that the school leaving examination will be suddenly unified. The form of the examination will be an essay, while assessment norms will differ during the transitional period. As there were different opinions with regard to the contents of the examination, officials from the Ministry of Education and Science will meet with representatives from Lithuanian schools with the Polish language of instruction, aiming to professionally discuss this issue until the next meeting of the expert group.

2.  They will offer to invite representatives from interested ethnic minorities in Lithuania to become members of the Assessment Board of School Leaving Examination at the National Examination Centre (hereinafter referred to as ‘Assessment Board’). The Assessment Board would analyze for not less than 8 years the results of examination surveys which are carried out annually by the National Examination Centre and would provide suggestions for the enhancement of assessment accordingly.

3.  They will offer to include into the rules for the creation of a network of schools (formal education) provisions, stipulating that in populated localities, where there are 2-3 schools with different languages ​​of instruction, or one school with different languages ​​of instruction, the minimum number of pupils in Grades 11-12 would be 7. Experts will continue to explore opportunities to apply these standards also to Grades 5-10.

4.  The Polish Central Examination Commission will give particular attention to the quality and grammaticality of the Lithuanian language tests in comprehensive schools, of examinations in gymnasiums and school leaving examination, and, in order to achieve this objective, will cooperate with the National Examination Centre of the Republic of Lithuania.

5.  The Development Strategy of Lithuanian Minority Education in Poland (hereinafter referred to as ‘Strategy’), prepared by the Polish Ministry of National Education and the Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration will be presented on 24 October 2011 in Punsk at the Strategy review conference, which is dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Strategy. The conference will be attended by representatives from municipalities, directors and teachers of minority schools with Lithuanian as the language of instruction, and representatives from the Lithuanian minority in Poland. Participants will submit proposals regarding the changes of financing of national and ethnic minority education. Proposals submitted by representatives from national minorities, including the proposals by representatives from the Lithuanian minority in Poland, will be central when making the planned changes.

6.  Proposals related to the changes of financing of Polish minority schools and other educational issues that are important to the Lithuanian minority in Poland and the Polish minority in Lithuania, including the publishing of textbooks for national minorities, will be discussed at the 3rd meeting of the expert group, which is to be held on 14 October 2011 in Vilnius.

Warsaw, 19 September 2011