Vilnius City Council approved the name change of Sofija Kovalevskaja Gymnasium. From now on, it will be called Vilnius "Sostinės" gymnasium. The name was chosen by the school community itself.
The name of the Council was considered and approved by the Historical Memory Commission of the city of Vilnius.
"The school community chose names for a long time and presented one option to the commission. If we had not approved the name, the process could have been prolonged and the school would have remained with the current name, therefore we respect the choice of the community itself", said Kamilė Šeraitė-Gogelienė, chairwoman of the Historical Memory Commission.
The school community also considered the name Santaika Gymnasium, but it was not approved by the gymnasium student council.
According to school director Asta Marinaitė, it was decided to change the name of the school for several reasons. One practical thing - there are two schools named after Sofija Kovalevska in Vilnius - Sofija Kovalevskaja Gymnasium and Sofija Kovalevskaja Progymnasium, so they are often confused.
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Born in Tsarist Russia, Sofija Kovalevska achieved the most in the field of mathematics, she was one of the first women in the world to become a professor of mathematics. "The name of this famous mathematician was given to the school in order to strengthen the education of mathematics and other real sciences. However, we see that this direction no longer corresponds to the current reality of the gymnasium. We associate educational content not only with academic learning, but also with learning through experiences, the environment, and getting to know your hometown. Vilnius is like an open school for us, so the name of the capital seemed very close to us", said A. Marinaitė.
