Lithuania considers closing schools with Russian language instruction

The Lithuanian government is considering the closure of schools with Russian-language instruction. 

This initiative comes after reports that a pair of teenagers attending a Russian-language school in Naumiestis, Vilnius district, shot a classmate with an air pistol due to his political views, Rubryka reports, citing LRT.

Lithuania's Minister of Education, Science, and Sport, Gintautas Jakštas, stated that such incidents are caused by the challenging integration of Russians in Lithuania. The politician is exploring legal means to abandon educational institutions for the Russian national minority.

"We are assessing and discussing with the team whether there are ways to gradually close schools for the Russian minority. We are evaluating the legal basis for this action," said Jakštas.

"If the school was initiated by the municipality, then the founder can make the decision. But we would like to make decisions at the state level so that these schools for the Russian national minority begin to disappear because we understand that children are growing up divided, making it difficult for them to integrate into Lithuania. It seems to me that everyone will be better off if, in the future, there are no more schools for the Russian minority," said the government official.

According to the minister, Latvia, and Estonia found it easier to make such a decision because they do not have large communities of national minorities. In Lithuania's case, he mentioned preserving existing agreements with Poland and no legal grounds for singling out one national minority.

"The discussions have been ongoing for a long time, and the example of Latvia and Estonia is simpler because they do not have other schools for national minorities like we do for Poles. There is a contract and agreements with Poland, so, of course, there can be no talk of abandoning these schools for national minorities," he emphasized.

As it was reported in the media, on the eve of Christmas, two teenagers from one of the schools in the Vilnius district of Naumiestis shot an air pistol at their classmate during a walk. The mother of the victim, Irina Novik, a journalist who moved to Lithuania from Russia, described the situation on Facebook. The woman explained that the teenagers reacted this way because her son while sitting in a pizzeria, expressed that he did not support the war in Ukraine.