The government of S. Skvernelis failed, perhaps I. Šimonyte will succeed? All parliamentary parties will be seated at the negotiating table on education

Education, Science and Sports Minister Jurgita Šiugždinienė mentioned earlier that Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė addressed the leaders of the parliamentary parties in the Seimas and invited them to draft a national agreement on education.

He said that party representatives would first be consulted on the content of the agreement, after which it would be possible to define its guidelines.

The agreement must be signed before the start of the next school year.

Representatives of all parliamentary parties 15 minutes confirmed that he will participate in the negotiations and negotiations on the future of education.

The opposition “peasants” will delegate to the negotiations the elderly Aušrinė Norkienė and the parliamentarian Eugenijus Jovaišas, the “workers” – the elder of the Vigilijus Juknas faction and the member of the Seimas Ieva Kačinskaitė-Urbonienė, the Social Democrats – the MPs Tomas Biizė and Vilija

The ruling conservatives will send Major Radvil mayor Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė of the group and Parliamentarian Edmundas Pupinis, the Freedom Party – the chairman of the Education and Science Committee of the Seimas Artūras Žukauskas and the committee member Silva Lengvinienė, the Liberal Movement – the politicians Viktoras Pranckietas and Raimundas at Negotiations.

E.Jovaiša – by specificity

According to E. Jovaiša, the education agreement should not be a wish book, but a document with specific numbers, parameters and terms.

According to the politician, it should also cover a wide range of areas, from preschool or inclusive education to higher education.

“First of all, we should think about what all the parties promised in the electoral programs to all the people of Lithuania as the greatest good, that is, that they will start funding at least 1.5 percent of the research and the gross domestic product (GDP) innovation. As we can see now, there is nothing like it, “he said.

According to E. Jovaiša, the document should also address the issue of financing higher education.

“If we want a breakthrough in higher education, maybe it’s time to think about a serious change in funding for higher education, rather than reviving the baskets by whatever means that is happening now by elitizing higher education and making it difficult to people with low income “,.

E. Jovaiša assured that he did not know when the first meeting of the negotiators would take place, or what the format of the document would be:

“Is it national? If it is national, who is involved? If they are parties, who is involved? Such issues must be considered at the first meeting to understand the scope of the agreement.”

Time to think about a serious change in funding for higher education.

When asked if an agreement could be reached for the beginning of the next school year, E. Jovaiša replied that everything would depend on the beginning.

It is said that if the agreement is thrown to different institutions, as was the case during the previous legislature, nothing will come of it.

“If it is going to be like the last time the agreement was launched, it is an initiative of the presidency, it is an initiative of the Government, it was handed over to us in a period of time. <...>If you are divided between those three beautiful institutions, let it break. Those things must be agreed very clearly, ”said E. Jovaiša.

V. Jukna: we won’t agree on the details

The Labor Party will participate in the preparation of the agreement on education because, in the opinion of the eldest of the Seimas faction, education in Lithuania needs a clear but different direction.

“We will participate because education is a priority area where key aspirations must be agreed so that this area has a clear vision,” said the politician.

He is convinced that in the field of education it will be possible to agree on goals, but not measures.

“I understand that there will be no detailed agreement on the measures, but we have many reflections on the objectives, what education should be, that it should be different, because it does not meet today’s requirements. We’ll express them and then roll them up, “taught V. Jukna.

A.Sys: The agreement will be there if there are no extremes

A. Sysas, the largest of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party faction in the Seimas, hoped that the agreement would help avoid constant distractions and reforms in the field of education.

According to him, party representatives will guide each other in the negotiations by presenting proposals and evaluating the initiatives of others.

“Our representatives will represent the principle that quality and high-level education should be accessible to all,” said A. Sys.

Quality and high-quality education must be accessible to all.

According to him, the Social Democrats will seek greater support for the public sector than for the private sector in the document:

“It is unacceptable to us, for example, that we want to equate public schools with private schools, with the same funding, even though they receive a lot of money from their parents. Such things are not very acceptable. We are just saying that we need to strengthen the public sector, public schools “.

The politician is convinced that an agreement will be reached for the next school year if no one agrees to implement extreme ideas, such as the creation of a single national school.

R.Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė: I don’t want to press

R. Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė, elder of the National Union of the Christian Democratic rulers of the Seimas-Lithuanians 15 minutes he said he would like the deal to be specific, but said it would certainly not be enough to achieve that.

“It is worth agreeing at least some principles. I cannot imagine if there could be a very broad menu,” said the politician.

“I would not like to push for ideology, but to take into account the expectations of schools and the scientific community,” he added.

I would not like to push according to ideology, but take into account the expectations of the schools and the scientific community.

R.Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė noted that some processes in the educational system, such as the possibility of forming joint classes, depend on the minister who approves the orders.

But even for such things, it would make sense for the parties to agree.

The Conservative said that he will pay special attention to the work of educational support specialists in the negotiations.

“For me personally, one of the most important things when it comes to the school itself is the education professionals. I think by taking this topic, it is really possible to define some specific things, how to increase funds, how to train specialists, how to motivate them to stay in school, ”commented R. Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė.

E. Gentvilas: it is not necessary to define the amounts

According to E. Gentvilas, the largest of the Seimas Liberal Movement faction, the agreement could identify objectives and measures in the field of education, but not necessarily agree on specific financing.

“Nobody forbids us to speak of sufficient financing, to anticipate its increase. How specifically could or should it be agreed, I don’t think it’s necessary.

I believe that it is necessary to identify the goals, the measures and the sufficient financing, perhaps without saying how many millions or billions there are ”, he said.

The document, according to the politician, should establish the objective of reducing the quality gap between urban and district schools and identify compensatory mechanisms to achieve it.

And private schools should not be underestimated.

It is necessary to develop certain compensation mechanisms for educators.

“There must be fair treatment for public schools, whether they are secondary, elementary and private. <...>

The second is a network so that smaller cities do not run out of high-quality science.

It is necessary to create certain compensation mechanisms for educators so that it does not happen that educators do not want to go to the province, in the best of cases they agree to go to the district center, and the elderly and the towns remain for everyone ”, said E Gentvilas

I.Pakarklytė: maybe small schools should be connected

Elder Ieva Pakarklytė, the elder of the Freedom Faction in the Seimas, also spoke about the quality of education.

According to politicians, it could be improved by changing the network of institutions.

“We emphasize the quality of education, which is the same in all schools, so that we don’t have good and bad schools. This perhaps means merging smaller schools to ensure the basic level of a good school for all, ”said the Seimas member.

She believes that the content of education should also be reviewed:

“We believe that the content of education in many cases is outdated and should meet the needs of modern man today.”

How specific should the educational agreement be?

I.Pakarklytė replied that this is a topic of discussion.

You don’t want to anticipate events, but specificity may arise.

“I don’t want to anticipate events, but the specificity can come,” he said, hoping to reach an agreement between the parties for the next school year.

The previous government of Saul Skvernelis also tried to draft an agreement on education.

However, negotiations on the draft document stalled and no agreement was reached.