The Vilnius City Municipality has announced plans to increase Lithuanian language lessons in national minority primary schools to at least six hours per week starting from the next academic year.
"To achieve the goals of the education system and create a society where both the Lithuanian language is well learned and other exams are passed better, [...] in Vilnius we have decided to set a target of at least six weekly Lithuanian language and literature lessons for national minority schools with primary classes," Vilnius Deputy Mayor Vytautas Mitalas told journalists on Wednesday.
Currently, primary pupils in national minority schools receive four or five Lithuanian language lessons weekly, compared to seven or eight hours in Lithuanian-language schools. Throughout primary education, this amounts to a difference of around 350 hours—nearly a year and a half, he emphasised.
“The difference is built into the curriculum and continues from one year to the next, and from one grade to another. Naturally, this leads to a weaker command of the Lithuanian language, making it harder for pupils who didn’t make enough progress in the primary years to catch up,” Mitalas explained.
According to the municipality, the decision follows an analysis of Vilnius pupils’ performance in the 2020–2024 state matriculation exams.
These results show that more than a fifth of students in national minority schools failed the Lithuanian language and literature exam, while results in other subjects were also lower than those of students studying in Lithuanian.
Principals of national minority schools are currently being consulted, and the municipality has pledged to offer all necessary support, Mitalas added.
Promoting bilingual education in early childhood
Meanwhile, Vilnius Deputy Mayor Donalda Meizelytė said the city municipality plans to promote bilingual education in pre-school education at Russian-speaking kindergartens and schools.
“The most important education is pre-school. Children of pre-school age learn another language much more easily, learn two languages, and we are taking advantage of this,” Meizelytė noted.
“We hope that all children in Vilnius will know the state language and feel comfortable using it. Then their achievements in general education would also be much better,” she added.
Discussions about increasing the number of Lithuanian language lessons in national minority schools began last February, following more than a month of talks on improving the quality of education in institutions serving the Russian national minority.
After consultations with representatives of the education community, amendments to the Education Law were drafted in November, proposing an increase in the number of hours dedicated to teaching Lithuanian in national minority schools.
At the time, the proposal suggested that from September 2025, Lithuanian language instruction in national minority schools would increase by one hour per week to a total of six hours. This would rise to seven hours in 2026 and reach eight hours per week by 2028.
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