Language Research

SCHOOLS

The Law on Education of the Republic of Lithuania from 1990 reiterates that, numerous and densely living national minorities are provided the possibility to have pre-school institutions, secondary schools and classes with their native language of instruction. Such educational establishments should be State institutions or institutions with government financial assistance.

Textbooks in the mother tongue of national minorities are provided by the State, free of charge and are published by a Special State publishing house.

There are State schools and classes utilizing the Russian, Polish, Belarusian and Ukrainian language for instruction. In 1996/97, around 72,000 pupils comprising 13.6% of all the pupils in the country studied in Russian and Polish language schools. In all the secondary schools, including those with a minority language of instruction, the State language and Lithuanian literature are taught in Lithuanian. Other subjects in the schools of linguistic minorities could be taught in Lithuanian at the request of the parents.

MEDIA

According to the Law on Press and Other Mass Media, public information shall be provided and spread in the official language or any other language with the conformity to the principles of the Law on State Language, Article 11.

According to the Law on National Radio and TV, Lithuanian National Radio and TV should uphold the creation, promotion and protection of national culture. It should also form the principles of tolerance and humanity, and ensure the culture of spoken language. (Article 3) The radio and TV programs should be orientated towards various groups in the society, taking into account the differences in age, nationality, belief and orientation. (Article 4) Radio and television programs on the State Radio and TV, broadcast in all of these languages: Russian, Polish, Tatar, German, Belarusian and Ukrainian. In 1996 the total duration of such programs was 987,5 hours on State Radio and 117 hours on State TV.

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Updated (September 2002)

EDUCATION

The main language of instructions at different levels is Lithuanian but the languages of national minorities are used at schools as well:

MEDIA

Lithuanian Radio devotes 90 minutes daily to the Russian language programs, 30 minutes to Polish language programs, 30 minutes bimonthly to Ukrainian language broadcasting, and 30 minutes weekly to Bielorussian programs.

Lithuanian National TV broadcasts daily a 10-minute informational program and several weekly programs in Russian and Polish. It also has short programs for smaller national minorities (Ukrainians, Belorussians and Jews). Lithuania re-broadcasts TV “Polonia” from Poland and some TV programs and stations of other countries.

In 1999, Lithuania had 754 periodic publications: newspapers, magazines and bulletins. The majority of them (88.1 percent) are published in Lithuanian. Other languages are used as follows:

BOOKS

In the year 2000, besides Lithuanian, which is the main language in this sphere (90.7 percent), other languages were used as follows: (in percent)

Source: World Congress on Language Policies, Barcelona, April 16-20, 2002, "Language Planning and Practice: Lithuanian Model," by Ass. Prof. Dr. Nijolë Merkieneuml; from Faculty of Humanities, Ðiaulai University, http://www.linguapax.org/congres/taller/taller2/Merkiene.html

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Updated (April 2004)

BROADCASTING

In Lithuania, there are 4 national television channels, 3 commercial channels (LNK, TV 3 and Baltic television (Baltijos TV)) and 15 local television stations¹.

As far as radio broadcasting is concerned, in 1999, there were 4 national radio stations (including the public broadcasting channels LR1 and LR2) and at least 20 local radio stations.

Most of the national audiovisual mass media in Lithuania broadcast in the state language. According to the LRT (public Lithuanian national radio and television (Lietuvos Radijas ir Televiziya)) Charter, about 3 percent of the total (18 hours) daily broadcasting of the channel is allocated to religious programs and programs for minorities. Currently, six programs for minorities are produced at LRT².

There are also several radio programs for minorities on national channels. Every day, the first channel of national radio LR1 broadcasts a half-hour news program in Russian.

On LR2 a one-hour block for minorities called “Santara” is broadcast daily. On Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays minority members can watch a 20-minute news program in Russian, a ten-minute news program in Belarusians and a 30-minute program in Polish. On Wednesdays, instead of news in Russian there is a Belarusian program called “Dla vas suaicyniki” and on Fridays, there is a program in Ukrainian, entitled “Kalinovy hrona”. The Voice of America broadcasts in Russian each weekday from 4.40pm to 5.00pm.

The programs in minority languages are broadcast on local television and radio stations and cable television as well.

Source: Minority-language Related Broadcasting and Legislation in the OSCE, Program in Comparative Media Law and Policy (PCMLP), Center for Socio-Legal Studies, Wolfson College, Oxford University & Institute for Information Law (IViR) (http://www.ivir.nl/index-english.html), Universiteit van Amsterdam (Study commissioned by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities), April 2003, edited by T. McGonagle (IViR), B. Davis Noll & M. Price (PCMLP), http://www.ivir.nl/publications/mcgonagle/Minority-language%20broadcasting.pdf

¹ A survey made in 1999

² On Saturdays, beginning at 8.00am, 15-minute programs for major minorities are broadcast: “Vilnius note-book” in Belarusian, “Vilnius conversations” in Polish and “Russian street” in Russian. On Sunday, also at 8.00am, a block of 10-minute programs for smaller minorities includes: a journal for minorities “Labas” (Good afternoon); a program in Ukrainian called “Trembita” and a program for Lithuanian Jews, “Menorah”, which like “Labas” is made in Lithuanian. Besides that, every weekday at 5.00pm, LRT broadcasts 15 minutes of news in Russian.

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Updated (August 2005)

SCHOOLS

General education and non-formal education schools provide for teaching in a language of ethnic minorities and fostering of their culture. The teaching process is either entirely conducted in the language of the ethnic minority or only certain subjects are taught in this language. The Lithuanian language as a school subject is a constituent part of the curriculum.

Due to remarkable and swift changes in the attitudes of national minorities it is planed to introduce the same Lithuanian-language capability examination for pupils of all secondary schools (including Russian and Polish schools) in 2007.

According to official statistics of the Ministry of Education and Science in 2000, there were a total of 2,031 schools in Lithuania (in 74 schools Polish was the language of instruction; in 68 Russian; in 26 Russian and Polish; in 23 Lithuanian and Russian; in 11 Lithuanian and Polish; in 10 Lithuanian, Russian and Polish; in 1 Belarusian; in 1 Russian and Belarusian and in 1 Lithuanian and English.

Apart from the schools of national minorities that are financed according to the same principles and criteria as Lithuanian schools, there also are private schools for national minorities. Some minorities (Poles, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Germans, Armenians, Tatars, Karaims and Greeks) have established their own Sunday schools where they teach minority languages.

Source: Mercator, Working Papers No. 19, Language Policy and the Sociolinguistic Situation in Lithuania, by Prof. Laima Grumadiene from the Institute of Lithuanian Language, 2005, http://www.ciemen.org/mercator/index-gb.htm

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Updated (September 2006)

VILNIUS LAUNCHES "LANGUAGE BUSES"

A European Commission project to teach commuters foreign languages whilst they travel has started in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. The so-called "Language buses" will play useful phrases in Lithuanian, Polish and English in an attempt to encourage people to learn new skills. It should last for about a year as it is said that one year is enough time to teach people how to introduce themselves, ask for directions and other useful phrases.

On several routes, passengers will find worksheets for them to complete and, as well as the usual announcements for the next stop, they will be played useful phrases in the respective languages. Moreover, the travelers can hand in their work to be marked; afterwards, successful "students" can win a free language course.

This project will be soon spreading across the whole European Union. For example, in Hamburg (Germany), Turkish as well as English will be played on the underground; trains in Milan (Italy) will play Spanish to commuters; and bus passengers in Malta and Romania can learn Italian while traveling.

Source: BBC News, September 20, 2006 by Barbara Sheeter http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5364280.stm

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Updated (September 2007)

According to the Law on Education, article 28, paragraph 7, “in localities where a national minority traditionally constitutes a substantial part of the population, upon that community's request, the municipality assures the possibility of learning in the national minority language”.

The Polish education system in Lithuania, i.e. in the regions where the majority of the Lithuanian Poles lives, is stable and expanded heavily in the 1990s when many Russian schools were closed. The network of schools for Polish minority was extended upon active lobbying of the Polish minority organizations and the result of such consolidation was the growing number of children attending schools with Polish as the language of instruction.

The Polish minority in Lithuania, in compliance with the Law on Education, has the possibility to attend kindergartens and schools in Polish in South Eastern Lithuania (municipalities of Vilnius city, Vilnius district, Šalčininkai, Trakai, Švenčionys). Outside of these compact Polish settlement areas, Saturday or Sunday schools¹ provide instruction in Polish language and culture.

There are so–called Polish schools in the area around the city of Vilnius, which provide education for the Polish minority. These schools are primarily monolingual with Lithuanian being taught only as a compulsory subject.

Due to a shortage of qualified teachers who are able to teach one or two other subjects in Polish, especially in regions more distant from Vilnius, there are no schools in Lithuania with systematic bilingual teaching. Even though there are bi– or trilingual schools (Lithuanian–Polish, Polish–Russian or Lithuanian–Polish–Russian), they do not have regular bi– or trilingual classes. Education is provided separately for Polish, Lithuanian and Russian groups where all or most of the subjects are taught in the minority language. Consequently, pupils are taught in Lithuanian.

In basic education curricula (up to grade 10), almost exclusively Polish teaching materials and textbooks are used. In the last two years before the Matura examinations (grades 11 and 12), textbooks are mostly in Lithuanian. Nevertheless, the courses – except Lithuanian language and literature – are taught in Polish.

PRE–SCHOOL EDUCATION

Pre–school education is not compulsory in Lithuania; however, it is made available for children as of age six to attend a preparatory class, where they are prepared for successful learning in primary school.

Polish kindergartens are founded by the municipalities to provide Polish-speaking children with pre–school education in their native language. Education in such kindergartens or kindergarten groups is in Polish only. The pre–primary class prepares children to continue their studies in schools with Polish as the language of instruction.

The teaching material used at this level is available only in Lithuanian; therefore, teachers in Polish kindergartens, although teaching in Polish, use Lithuanian materials or they collect some material from Poland themselves.

PRIMARY EDUCATION

In the Lithuanian education system, primary education is compulsory and usually begins at the age of seven.

In the Polish schools of Vilnius County as well as in Polish groups in schools with groups instructed in different languages, all subjects, except the Lithuanian language, are taught in Polish.

The learning of the Lithuanian state language is compulsory from grade one upwards.

Outside the compact area with a Polish majority or considerable minority, only Polish language and culture is taught in non–compulsory Saturday or Sunday schools.

All teaching material for the Polish schools is produced in Polish in Lithuania. The teaching materials for Polish language and literature are originals, created by Polish authors from Lithuania, whereas the books for other subjects are mostly adapted translations of Lithuanian originals.

SECONDARY EDUCATION

Secondary education starts upon completion of primary school with grade 5 and ends after the 12th grade. In Lithuania, it is divided into two curricula: basic education (grades 5–10) and secondary education (grades 11– 12). While the former is compulsory, the latter is not.

The provisions of language use in the classic type of secondary grammar schools (grades 5–12) are the same as in primary school. In Polish basic and secondary schools, Polish is the medium of instruction for all subjects except Lithuanian state language. Only when no teacher of the subject in Polish is available, this subject is taught in Lithuanian.

For schools around the city of Vilnius, there are virtually no problems to find a teacher for all subjects. Most of the teachers are themselves graduates from Polish schools and later from Lithuanian universities, others are specialists, who have learnt Polish as a second language. Many of them live in Vilnius itself and travel to their places of work. However, the problems in finding a qualified teacher increase with the distance from the capital.

Teaching material for schools with Polish as the language of instruction is published in the Polish language by various publishing houses in Lithuania. The textbooks for teaching Polish language and literature are produced by authors of Lithuanian Polish origin, and the textbooks for other subjects are translations of their Lithuanian equivalents. In grades 11 and 12, textbooks in Lithuanian are used for several subjects, but the respective subjects are nevertheless taught in Polish. In addition to these materials, teaching materials from Poland are used in some schools for secondary education.

HIGHER EDUCATION

In higher education, the Polish language is used at two universities: Vilnius University and Vilnius Pedagogical University.

Polish philology (language and literature) can also be studied at Vilnius University, at the Department of Polish Philology. Furthermore, Polish is taught as an optional subject to students of Slavic studies at the universities of Klaipeda, Šiauliai, and the Vytautas–Magnus University of Kaunas.

Graduates of Polish secondary schools can also study at universities in Poland. Every year, about 20–30 students enroll at a Polish university These students receive grants offered by the Ministry of Education in Poland – the programme is open exclusively to Lithuanians of Polish origin from Lithuania, mostly but not exclusively to graduates from Polish schools.

Source: Mercator Education, Regional dossiers, The Polish language in Education in Lithuania http://www1.fa.knaw.nl/mercator/regionale_dossiers/PDFs/Polish_in_Lithuania.pdf

1. According to the Concept of Saturday and Sunday Schools for Ethnic Minorities (2004), “a Sunday school is an institution of non–formal education for children created to sustain the ethno–linguistic vitality of their ethnic minority and satisfy specific educational needs of ethnic minority's children and youth to learn their mother tongue, gain knowledge of ethnic traditions and culture, and, in general, to preserve and strengthen their ethnic identity and support their need for ethno–cultural expression and socialization”.

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