The only Belarusian high school in Lithuania is celebrating an impressive 100-year anniversary in the capital's City Hall. The celebration is double, because today the Pranciškaus Skorina high school turns 25. Not only the school community gathered for the celebration, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to Lithuania Aleksandr Korol, former high school students and teachers also came, all were greeted by the capital's mayor Remigius Šimašius.
"In a few years, Vilnius will celebrate its 700th anniversary - we will remember the letters of Grand Duke Gediminas, which he signed as the Duke of Lithuanians and Ruthenians. Next year in May we will celebrate the 500th anniversary - we will commemorate the anniversary of the establishment of Pranciškaus Skorina printing house. Lithuanians and Belarusians have a long and beautiful history, friendship, common struggles, and the desire to restore Independence together. Vilnius is the only city in the world where Belarusians can study in their native language outside the borders of Belarus, so we are honored to be a caring, welcoming city. I believe that the gymnasium will continue to flourish and grow", congratulated the mayor of the capital R. Šimašius.
The director of the Department of Education, Culture and Sports Alina Kovalevskaja handed over 1 thousand to the school director Diana Stachnovič. a gift voucher from the municipality worth EUR XNUMX, intended for the educational activities of high school students.
"Today we celebrate two extremely important dates for our high school - the centenary of its establishment and the 25th anniversary of its rebirth. 100 and 25 is not just a number, it is a big job, a responsibility. We continue to have goals - to protect our nationality, our language and at the same time educate conscious citizens of Lithuania. Thank you all for the fact that we can celebrate today", said the director of the gymnasium D. Stachnovič.
The impressive 100-year anniversary celebrating the only Belarusian high school was founded in 1919 by the Belarusian Society for Aid to War Victims. Mykolas Biržiška, who was the Minister of Education at the time, allowed the school to be established in Basilijanoi Palace (now Aušros Vartų St.).
The gymnasium operated until 1944, when it was closed by the Soviets who occupied Lithuania. During the Soviet era, many pedagogues were exiled to Siberia. After that, the school did not work for many years, but after the restoration of Independence, in 1994, thanks to the active Belarusian community, the school resumed its activities and was named the 68th secondary school of Vilnius. The restored school was located in Karoliniškės, it was headed by Galina Sivalava at the time.
The main language of instruction at the gymnasium remains Belarusian, but some subjects are also taught in Lithuanian. Students from the 1st to the 12th grade attend the gymnasium, many of them are of Belarusian nationality or from mixed families, but children of Russian, Polish and Tatar nationality also study here. The school pays a lot of attention to the cultivation of national identity. Currently, about 200 students attend P. Skorina's high school, 34 teachers work.
The name of Pranciškaus Skorina was given to the school by the decision of the Capital City Council in 2013, in the same year the school was transformed into a gymnasium.
P. Skorina – public figure of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, born in Polotsk, Belarus, lived in Vilnius. P. Skorina founded the first printing house in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the house of Mayor Jokūbas Babičius in Vilnius. Here he printed the first book in Lithuania in the Ruthenian - old Belarusian - language. It was Mr. Skorina's publications that started the tradition of book printing in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
In honor of this distinguished person, there is a street named after P. Skorina in the Naujamiestis borough. in 1973 In the old town, in the so-called Spaustuvė yard, located in Stiklių str. 4, a pink granite decorative sculpture "Metraštininkas" (sculptor Vaclovas Krutinis) dedicated to P. Skorina. The historical figure is also honored in his native Belarus, where monuments dedicated to him have been erected in Polotsk, Minsk and Lyda.
More than 2000 Belarusians live in Lithuania.
