Lithuania restricts Russian-language school lessons

VILNIUS (Itar-Tass) - Lithuanian parliament adopted a law
on Thursday that restricted Russian-language lessons in Russian schools,
which teachers said violated the rights of national minorities.
The law stipulates that national minority schools in the country shall
in the 2011 school year teach Lithuanian history and geography, as well as
outside world perception and the basics of civic consciousness in the
Lithuanian language.
It also stipulates the number of Lithuanian language lessons shall
equal the number of lessons devoted to the native language.
From 2013 all schoolchildren, including ethnic Lithuanians and
representatives of national minorities, shall take the same exam in the
Lithuanian language.
"This is a violation of the rights of national minorities rather than
care for them and a way towards integration. It is a clear way to
assimilation," said chairwoman of the Association of Russian school
teachers Ella Kanaite.
She blamed Lithuanian parliament for ignoring over 60 thousand
signatures collected by the Russian and Polish communities to back their
right for secondary education in the native language.
"We shall not stop and lose heart. We shall turn to European
structures," Kanaite said adding it is necessary to preserve the Russian
school both as an educational establishment and an oasis of the Russian
culture.