Lithuania mulls closing Russian-language schools after Vilnius school shooting incident
Lithuania is considering closing all extant Russian-language schools in the country following a school shooting at one such school in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, Lithuanian news outlet LRT reported on Jan. 4.
“We need to start thinking about what those
solutions would be,” said Gintautas Jakštas, the Minister of Education,
Science, and Sport of Lithuania.
“It is too early to say what they would be.
We are now immersed in the assessment of schools, and I hope to have a proposal
over the next few weeks.”
On Dec. 24, two Vilnius teenagers used a pneumatic
AK-74M rifle loaded with plastic bullets to shoot at a classmate while playing
the anthem of Russia’s Wagner mercenary company, who have committed numerous
war crimes in Ukraine. The victim’s mother, a Russian immigrant, reported the
incident. The teenagers cited their classmate’s refusal to support Russia’s
full-scale war against Ukraine as their motivation for the crime.
The school’s director, Danute Misrene,
confirmed that the shooting had occurred, and explained that the parents of the
perpetrators had apologized to the injured boy’s family that same evening.
Misrene also urged the public against discriminating against the Russian ethnic
minority in Lithuania because of this incident.
“It is crucial that we do not succumb to a
wave of revenge and that we avoid the path of marginalizing the Russian
community in Lithuania,” Misrene said.
Jakštas believes closing schools for
Russian national minorities could be one solution to avoid further
marginalization of the Russian ethnic community, as he's argued that kids grow
up divided when they attend Russian-language schools, making it tougher for
them to fit into Lithuanian culture.
In addition, schools in Lithuania should
not use the languages of “unfriendly countries” as languages of instruction,
according to the minister.
“I think it’s better for everyone if there
aren’t any more schools for Russian minorities in the future,” he said.
The Education Ministry should also be able
to decide whether or not a given school is closed, Jakštas added, though for
schools founded at the municipal level, the school’s founder should also have a
say in the matter.
If Lithuania does take this step, then it
would join its Baltic neighbors, Latvia and Estonia, who have also closed or
reformed their own Russian-language school systems.
All kindergartens in Latvia, for example,
as well as first, fourth, and seventh grades, switched to teaching all subjects
in the Latvian language starting Sept. 1, 2023. The second, fifth, and eighth
grades will switch to education in Latvian from Sept. 1, 2024, and the third,
sixth, and ninth grades are set to follow suit from Sept. 1, 2025.
Estonia, getting ready to reform
Russian-language schools in 2023, will switch to teaching in Estonian for
kindergartens, as well as first and fourth grades of general education schools
in 2024–2025. The full transition to Estonian is scheduled for 2029.
As of September, the Lithuanian Education
and Science Ministry made it clear that they’re not planning any such changes
in the country.
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