Lower secondary education

The lower secondary education starts from the 5th form and continues for 6 years until the 10th form. Lower secondary education is mainly provided by pro-gymnasiums, in some cases also by gymnasiums or basic schools; from the 9th form it could be implemented by vocational schools in combination with vocational training programme. In Lithuania, education is compulsory for pupils until they reach 16 years. Compulsory education is usually provided up to the 10th form. 

Lithuanian is the language of instruction in most schools except for national minority schools, where language of instruction is that of the national minority - Belarusian, Polish, Russian or German. In some national minority schools bilingual education is implemented.  
Lower secondary education curriculum is approved by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport. It involves 8 subject groups: ethical education, languages, mathematics, technologies, arts, natural sciences, social sciences, health and physical education. The implementation of National Curriculum is regulated by the General Education Plan approved by the Minister. It outlines the scope, time and main principles of curriculum implementation. On completion of the 10th form, pupils take the Lower Secondary Achievement Test in the Lithuanian language and mathematics; for pupils from national minority schools the native language (Belarusian, Polish, Russian or German) test is compulsory.