In an interview to the national radio on Tuesday, the minister stated that the key objective of the compromise to lower exam requirements was to get non-Lithuanian-speaking pupils to take the exam in the first place.
The Ministry of Education and Science said that, in aswering essay questions, all graduates – from Lithuanian-language schools and schools of national minorities alike – will be able to choose one author from a list of seven. The earlier plan was to have exam takers pick one out of three or four authors.
Moreover, the Education ministry lowered the essay word limit for national minority students. In answering Lithuanian exam essay question, they will be required to produce a test of no fewer than 400 words (instead of the previously-stipulated 500). Moreover, non-Lithuanian graduates will be allowed to make more mistakes without losing marks.
"I think that the government should search for a compromise between what we want to do and what others want to do. I think it is a compromise, it will certainly improve the conditions for Lithuanian schools, but the quality will remain unaffected, which is our main concern. However, this one-year relaxation of the exam, especially since it is a new exam, will not cause any tragedy in Lithuania," the minister said.
In spring 2011, the Lithuanian parliament adopted a new wording of the Education Law, which, among other things, stipulated a new balance of subjects taught in Lithuanian and other languages in national minority schools. The law also envisaged that all graduates, irrespective of the language of instruction in their schools, be made to take the same Lithuanian exam starting in 2013. The changes were met with protests from the Polish minority in Lithuania.
