National Minorities in Lithuania; A study visit to Vilnius and Klaipeda by Mercator Education
At present, an inventory of the languages in the new states of the European Union is being made showing explicitly the position of ethnic minorities. In order to investigate the local situation in one of these new states in more detail and to inform representatives of the communities about the work of Mercator Education and the policies of the European Union in this field, a delegation from Mercator-Education visited Lithuania in the week 7-14 November 2006.
During a visit to the Jono Pauliaus 11-ojo gimnazija, a Polish school in Vilnius , we met the director Adam Blaskiewicz and attended a few lessons. This school is situated in a building in the outskirts of the town, where before Russian was used as language of education. Most of the lessons are given in Polish, but the students have to pass their final examination in Lithuania according to the requirements of the Lithuanian Ministry of Education. In addition to the mother language (Polish) and the national language (Lithuanian) foreign languages can be chosen (at present mostly English)
In Klaipeda we met with the director and staff members of the Hermann Sudermann secondary school, the only German school in the Baltic countries. This school has been initiated in 1992 mainly for children who are of German descent, such as from families who stayed after the war when the former German Memel Land became (again) Lithuanian and part of the Soviet Union . The number of pupils increased from 90 to 550, because also non-German parents send their children to this school. In the school we attended a few lessons, where in the higher classes part of the curriculum is provided in German. There are links with the Simon Dach Haus, a community centre for the German minority, which organises all kinds of cultural activities.
Both schools expressed their interest in a further exchange of information on bilingual and trilingual schools in the Netherlands and should like to participate in the Mercator Network of Schools. The school is presented on the web site www.zudermanas.ku.lt/de (German version)
(Source: Mercator Education, Network of Schools Bulletin, Ljouwert, December 2006. - http://www1.fa.knaw.nl/site/mercator/skoallenetwurk/newsletter/BulletinDecember2006.htm#national) |
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MINORIES A LITUÀNIA / MINORÍAS EN LITUANIA
Enviado - 21 diciembre 2006 : 12:57:10
