Lithuania restricts Russian-language school lessons

VILNIUS. March 18. KAZINFORM Lithuanian parliament adopted a law on Thursday that restricted Russian-language lessons in Russian schools, which teachers said violated the rights of national minorities; Kazinform refers to Itar-Tass.

The law stipulates that national minority schools in the country shall in the 2011 school year teach Lithuanian history and geography, as well as outside world perception and the basics of civic consciousness in the Lithuanian language.

It also stipulates the number of Lithuanian language lessons shall equal the number of lessons devoted to the native language.

From 2013 all schoolchildren, including ethnic Lithuanians and representatives of national minorities, shall take the same exam in the Lithuanian language.

"This is a violation of the rights of national minorities rather than care for them and a way towards integration. It is a clear way to assimilation," said chairwoman of the Association of Russian school teachers Ella Kanaite.

She blamed Lithuanian parliament for ignoring over 60 thousand signatures collected by the Russian and Polish communities to back their right for secondary education in the native language.

"We shall not stop and lose heart. We shall turn to European structures," Kanaite said adding it is necessary to preserve the Russian school both as an educational establishment and an oasis of the Russian culture.