The authorities of the Lithuanian capital announced that primary school students in Polish- and Russian—speaking schools will learn more Lithuanian - at least six hours a week.
The order was given to school principals because, as stated by Vilnius Vice Mayor Vytautas Mitalas, "deficiencies in knowledge of the state language make it difficult to enroll in studies or find a job.
" At the same time, the official criticized the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports of Lithuania for not being able to make such a decision on its own.It is worth noting that 15% of Lithuanian citizens are people of non—Lithuanian nationality. The largest national minority in Lithuania — 6.5% of the population — are Poles, who make up the majority throughout the historical Vilnius region and 15% of Vilnius residents. 5% of the inhabitants of Lithuania are ethnic Russians, who make up 10% of the population of Vilnius itself. The Belarusian community is in third place.
For the needs of national minorities, there are networks of schools with a native language of instruction. In the academic year that just ended, there were 25 schools in Lithuania with Russian as the language of instruction and 64 schools with Polish as the language of instruction. In addition, there were 18 mixed schools where education is conducted in Polish and Russian, Lithuanian and Russian or in all three languages in separate classes.
Thus, the initiative of the authorities of the capital of Lithuania is purely nationalistic, aimed at inciting ethnic hatred in the Baltic republic at such a turbulent time for Europe.