Article

Lithuania’s education responses to the influx of Ukrainian students

Basic education

Children should be enrolled in schools without delay to help families settle in. Newly arrived students will be supported with a tailored education plan based on their needs and will be gradually integrated into the mainstream system. Students will learn Lithuanian individually, in addition to classroom teaching. Upon request, Ukrainian can be recognised as a second foreign language, which is taught in schools from sixth grade. The Ministry of Education and Science has adjusted its curriculum so that Ukrainian students who choose to learn Ukrainian will be provided with five lessons a week. Students can also elect to enrol in national minority-language schools including Belarusian-, German, Polish- and Russian-speaking schools. The Ministry stated it would not develop special distance programs and encourages Ukrainian refugees to choose to attend Lithuanian schools.

 

Secondary education

School-leavers from Ukraine who have been granted asylum in Lithuania will be able to take their graduation exams and obtain secondary education diploma in Lithuania. If the application is submitted by 1 April 2022, school-leavers will then be able to take part in the main graduation exam session. If the application is submitted after this date, students will take part in the re-sit of the graduation exams. Ukrainian students may be exempted from the Lithuanian language and literature exam by school authorities.

 

Vocational education

Ukrainians who were enrolled in vocational training in Ukraine can enrol in one of 56 vocational institutions and depending on capacity, studies will be sponsored or discounted.

 

Higher education

Students who were enrolled in Ukrainian universities can continue their studies in Lithuania, where they can study in English and Russian. Curricula and universities can be accessed at www.studyin.lt.

To start the first year of study in higher education, the Ukrainian student should ideally provide their high school diploma. In the absence of such a document does not preclude admission, Ukrainian students who completed secondary schooling in Ukraine will go through a special recognition/equivalence procedure. This procedure can be carried out by selected higher education institutes or by a Center for Quality Assessment (SKVC).

It will be possible to transfer credits from previous studies, both in the presence of documents and without documents. The details of the procedure may vary across entities and can be obtained directly from higher education institutions and appraised on an individual basis. 

Teachers of general education subjects, as well as vocational teachers, class teachers, special pedagogues, speech therapists, deaf educators, typhlopedagogues, social pedagogues, and school psychologists who have come from Ukraine have the opportunity to be employed in Lithuanian schools. Teachers who have come from Ukraine and intend to work in Lithuania will be waived the requirement to speak Lithuanian for 2 years.

Prior to employment, teacher qualifications recognition/equivalence procedures must be carried out. If documents are not available, it is still possible to apply for the recognition procedure. Applications and all documents for recognition of teacher qualifications will be managed by one entity, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport.

Financial support will be provided to Ukrainian higher education students. The amount and modalities will depend on the capacity of the higher education institution. Some Lituanian universities plan to exempt Ukrainian students from tuition fees or make significant discounts, others will offer scholarships.

The EU issued operational guidelines for the implementation of Council implementing Decision 2022/382, establishing the existence of a mass influx of displaced persons from Ukraine within the meaning of Article 5 of Directive 2001/55/EC, and having the effect of introducing temporary protection (2022/C 126 I/01). As such, EU Member States shall grant access to their education system to persons under 18 years old enjoying the temporary protection status under the same conditions as their own nationals and EU citizens.

Bibliography

Government sources:

"Informacija Dėl Ukrainos Pabėgėlių / Інформація для громадян України / Information for Ukrainian Citizens." Švietimo, Mokslo Ir Sporto Ministerija. Accessed March 30, 2022. https://smsm.lrv.lt/lt/informacija-del-karo-pabegeliu-is-ukrainos

"Iš Ukrainos Atvykusiems Mokytojams / Для вчителів з України / For Teachers from Ukraine." Švietimo, Mokslo Ir Sporto Ministerija. Accessed March 30, 2022. https://smsm.lrv.lt/lt/informacija-del-karo-pabegeliu-is-ukrainos/is-ukrainos-atvykusiems-mokytojams-dlia-vchiteliv-z-ukrayini-for-teachers-from-ukraine

"Support for Ukrainian Students." Study in Lithuania, the Official National Website for Higher Education in Lithuania. Last modified March 28, 2022. https://studyin.lt/support-for-ukrainian-students

"Švieslentė." Mano Vyriausybė. Accessed March 31, 2022.  https://lrv.lt/lt/ukraine-dashboards

 

Other sources:

"Different Education of Ukrainians: Estonia Has Developed a Program for Distance Learning, Lithuania Encourages to Choose Lithuanian Schools – Baltics News." Baltics News. Last modified March 28, 2022.  https://baltics.news/2022/03/28/different-education-of-ukrainians-estonia-has-developed-a-program-for-distance-learning-lithuania-encourages-to-choose-lithuanian-schools

"School-leavers from Ukraine to Be Able to Take Graduation Exams in Lithuania." DELFI. Last modified March 27, 2022.  https://www.delfi.lt/en/culture/school-leavers-from-ukraine-to-be-able-to-take-graduation-exams-in-lithuania.d?id=89800591