Kindergartens are lacking not only in the capital, but also in Vilnius district. However, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports points out that it is more difficult for Lithuanian children to get kindergarten here.
In Vilnius district, Mickūnai, the Ministry opened a modular kindergarten with two additional groups in Lithuanian, but the director said that the waiting list is still long. The minister hopes that the municipality responsible for it will show more attention to Lithuanian educational institutions.
Kindergartners' dances in the new kindergarten make Minister of Education, Science and Sports Gintautas Jakštas happy, but according to the minister, there is nothing more to be happy about in the Vilnius district.
"The problem remains that in the Vilnius region it is difficult for parents to find educational institutions where children can be educated in the state language," said G. Jakštas.
The new kindergarten building was built next to the Mickūnai children's nursery-kindergarten, which is already operating, but can no longer accommodate all the children who want it.
"Currently, we will be able to accept 35-40 children in these two groups. If the nursery group has 15 children, if the kindergarten has 20. At the moment, about 80 children are waiting for our kindergarten", said Dita Rudinskienė, director of the Mickūnai nursery-kindergarten.
Most of the local residents, who cannot get a kindergarten, take their children to Vilnius.
"He is working at home as much as he can, remotely now, trying to organize to go to the city, Vilnius. And traffic jams, communication is difficult. This is really a wonderful place here, it would be if there was still an opportunity to expand," said Rasa Subačienė, a resident of Mickūnai.
"At the moment, since we are raising a little sister, our hearts are a bit calmer, because we already have a priority, but the situation is such that it is no secret that Vilnius region have such a problem that children simply have no place to go to kindergartens and schools", emphasized Simona Rasalė, a resident of Mickūnai
Mothers console themselves that it is difficult to find not only a Lithuanian kindergarten, but also a school in the Vilnius district. Although those institutions where the Polish language is taught are often half-empty, Lithuanians do not want to bring their children there.
"Because scientists and child development researchers declare and studies say that children are much more successful when they are educated in their mother tongue. We didn't even consider such a possibility, we would like to go to kindergarten and school in Lithuanian," explained S. Raselė.
"We would not like it to be the sole responsibility of the Ministry, because we understand that even the law obliges municipalities to ensure education in the state language. I really hope that the current government will take this responsibility seriously," said the Minister of Education, Science and Sports.
Vilnius district representatives of the municipal opposition indicated who was to blame for such a situation.
"The mayor is no longer from the Lithuanian Poles election campaign, but from the social democratic party, but the council has remained the same, they have the majority and any attempts in the council are extinguished. I myself have personally tried to make the first grade in Mickūnais, but this decision has been rejected three times," explained Jonas Vasiliauskas, a member of the Vilnius District Municipal Council.
The mayor agreed that not everything works out.
"The majority here is one party, we have a cooperation agreement, but not everything is the way we would like to make those decisions quickly," said Robertas Duchnevičius, mayor of the Vilnius district municipality.
However, according to R. Duchnevičius, it is not the case that the municipality is not building new kindergartens.
"This is not a one-day solution, not a one-day issue. We have now looked at the infrastructure that we have, the plots, because we need water supply and so on. We plan to build and rent modular kindergartens in Galgii, Rastinėnai, and Zujūnai this year, if we manage to prepare the entire structure", emphasized the mayor of the Vilnius district municipality.
In just over one year, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports announces that it has established 250 new pre-school education places in the state language in the Vilnius district.
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