Studies of Russian as second foreign language in Lithuania will be available at just some schools in several years
In about a decade, Russian as a second foreign language will be available only at a few schools in Lithuania, TASS reports
As stated by the Minister of Education, Science and Sports of Lithuania, Gintautas Jakstas, the popularity of the Russian language in Lithuanian and Polish schools has significantly decreased. “In such conditions, the Russian language is unlikely to be on the same level of popularity as French or German, so the possibilities of studying it over time, in 10 years, will be limited to several schools,” he noted.
This trend has emerged due to the lack of training of Russian language teachers in Lithuania. In addition, working teachers are mostly people of pre-retirement and retirement age.
It is noted that, over the past two years, the number of students choosing Russian as a second foreign language has decreased from 20.3 thousand to 14.1 thousand. In this regard, Mr. Jakstas noted that, if this trend continues, a balance and diversity in the choice of a second foreign language will be achieved.
The Lithuanian secondary schools that offer education not in Russian are recommended to abandon this language as a second foreign one, though no harsh measures are yet applied.
