Minister J. Šiugždinienė met with OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Kairat Abdrakhmanov

Minister of Education, Science and Sports Jurgita Šiugždinienė met with High Commissioner on National Minorities of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Kairat Abdrakhmanov. It is their second meeting, the first was held online.

The officials discussed the matters of education of national minorities in Lithuania, the Strategy of the Lithuanian Government, and practical steps in the field of education in pursuit of integration of multilingual society of Lithuania, the situation of the Lithuanian education in Belarus. Major attention was focused on education of the Ukrainian refugee children.

Introducing the issues of teaching the Ukrainian children, the Minister highlighted the major challenge of the big number of the children fleeing the Ukraine because of the Russian invasion - Lithuania faced the challenge to enrol them into schools as soon as possible, efforts were made to create possibilities for them to learn the Ukrainian language and the history of Ukraine.

'One of the major challenges today is assurance of continuity of the studies of the Ukrainians. We are keeping in touch with the Ukrainian Minister of Education and Science, Polish Minister of Education, and Ministers of Education of other neighbouring countries trying to find the best possible ways to minimise education losses caused by the war in Ukraine', said Ms. Šiugždinienė.

'We highly appreciate the Lithuanian efforts in ensuring education for the children from Ukraine, despite the limitation in resources available caused by the economic crisis that the entire Europe is facing. It is very important for the other countries to hear about your good experience. One of the examples to be followed is your aspiration to teach children the history of Ukraine, because it is very important for children to know the true facts of history', said Kairat Abdrakhmanov.

The ESBO High Commissioner showed interest in the situation of teaching national minorities in our country, teaching them the national language. Ms. Šiugždinienė emphasised that one of the key priorities of the Ministry is assurance of quality education in schools of national minorities. Efforts are made to strengthen learning achievements of their pupils, and to ensure proper learning of the national language, since it is the prerequisite for effective integration into society.

The Minister reminded to the High Commissioner about the Commission of Education of National Minorities established in Lithuania, which is a special consulting structure for discussing relevant matters of national minorities' education. Various interested parties are included into the Commission's work: representatives of the NGOs of the national minorities, communities of the schools of national minorities, municipalities, office of the equal opportunities ombudsperson, youth, scholars, etc.

The OSCE is a regional security organisation uniting 57 member countries and 11 partner states. The headquarters of the organisation are based in Vienna. Lithuanian accessed the OSCE in 1991.

The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities pursues the goal of identifying and eliminating causes of ethnic tension and conflicts, handling short-term causes of interethnic tension or conflicts, and long-term structural problems.

Kairat Abdrakhmanov holds the position of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities since December 2020. Before then, he was the Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Sweden and Finland.

Last updated: 19-12-2022

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