After Belarus bans lessons in Lithuanian, Lithuania is urgently looking for a solution
They will speak Lithuanian only during Lithuanian language lessons
D.Lukas stated that due to such a decision, Lithuania was already well received in Belarus, but did not hear a favorable answer.
“Belarus has adopted its own legislation, the code, which stipulates that from the next school year, the language of instruction in all national schools will be the state language – Belarusian or Russian. This would mean that Lithuanian schools would teach only Lithuanian language and literature lessons in Lithuanian.
In this case, I cannot say that the Lithuanians of Belarus intend to act, but I know what was done on the Lithuanian side – this information from the Belarusian authorities informed our Belarusian side that such a decision is unacceptable to Lithuania because it violates bilateral agreements and restricts Belarusian the right of children to learn their mother tongue.
However, the Belarusian side, for its part, has stated that it does not intend to change the decision, and a proposal has been made to introduce a transitional period to allow students to move to the new conditions. Belarus’s response is now awaited, “a spokesman for the SMSM explained.
D. Luko noted that this decision of Belarus will apply to schools of other national minorities as well.
“There are currently 4 minority schools in Belarus – two Polish and two Lithuanian. These are the same conditions for both Polish and Lithuanian schools, “he said, adding that the Polish media was also writing about the problem.
The Adviser to the Minister stated that the aim was to create conditions for students to preserve the Lithuanian language and get to know Lithuania better.
“How will this be done – perhaps through informal sessions, perhaps it will be one of the solutions,” Lukas thinks.
Asked whether Lithuania was not considering doing the same with Belarusian or Russian schools, he noted that this was not really considered yet.
“Not only Belarusians study our languages with us, but also Russians and Ukrainians. <...> At present, there are no such languages ”, explained the representative of ŠMSM.
Teachers may lose their jobs due to misinformation
The Ministry of Education and Sports has also recently made special recommendations to schools and warned that teachers who spread lies about war or justify genocide could be fired.
“There were several specific situations in the two schools in Vilnius, when two teachers clearly supported Russia, its aggression against Ukraine, and spread information and lies. Those two cases ended in such a way that the teachers themselves wrote statements to leave the school, ”D. Lukas reminded.
Asked to specify whether this did not violate labor rights, the adviser to Minister J.Šiugždinienė noted that justifying all war crimes was prohibited by all legal acts and documents accompanying the work of teachers.
“Legislation is quite clear: the Criminal Code, the Constitution, the Labor Code and the Education Act define very clearly how teachers should behave, what they should do, how they should talk to students and what they should do. what is forbidden. We have no fears, “said D. Lukas.
According to him, keep the school head away from misinformation or propaganda.
“The head of the school is the person who is responsible for what is happening at the school, and he should forbid the teacher from expressing views in favor of international crime, genocide, and Russian military aggression,” a spokesman for the SMSM said.
D.Lukas reminded that already at the beginning of the Russian-induced war in Ukraine, the address of the ministers to pedagogues was distributed to Lithuanian schools, in which psychologists also provided recommendations on how to talk to students about the war. Says schools and teachers have enough information to shed light on the subject.
However, there are also cases when misinformation is taken over by children from their parents at home and they do not avoid spreading it later in their educational institution.
“Teachers face challenges – they have to talk to their children, they have to tell what is happening in Ukraine, what people are fighting in Ukraine, and they have to talk to their parents and invite them to school to be tolerated. and the child should be given the right information “, D.Lukas said.
According to him, this is not such a big problem for schools, so there is no need to fear that the number of teachers in the country’s educational institutions will decrease even more.
“It simply came to our notice then. The recommendations were made precisely because school leaders were clear about how to manage the situation, what the legal responsibilities for inviting teachers to interview could be explained in order to threaten certain violations of the law. But I really don’t think that it could be massive or that there should be enough teachers to leave, there is a shortage of teachers, “said D. Lukas.
Vida Montvydaitė, the head of the Department of National Minorities, said that dividing people according to their nationality is extremely dangerous in this situation.
“Lithuanian national minorities and communities living in Lithuania are an integral part of society, ie Lithuanian citizens. It would be very dangerous and unnecessary to segregate in accordance with the national principle in this sensitive and complex situation.
We cannot deny that there is a certain part of the people in our society who have a different view of what is happening in Ukraine, but they are not just representatives of national minorities, they are also representatives of the majorities. It is not a secret among Lithuanians either – and we all know bambamas who do not agree with the people of Lithuania’s policy, but we should talk more about the effects of propaganda and disinformation. There is no need to choose a target group to build against the country on the basis of nationality, professionalism or education, ”she said.
“I think that, even if there are isolated cases, they are damaged in that atmosphere of goodness in our country,” said V. Montvydaitė.