On the occasion of September 1st, the LDK Algirdas Gymnasium in Maišiagala, Vilnius district, welcomed President G. Nausėda as a guest.
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Greeting the community, the president said he saw that the students gathered for the celebration came “as if to a new stage of school life, where perhaps answers to certain questions you ask yourselves await.”
“Today it is very important to understand that when starting a new year, and for some even starting for the first time, it is very important to be curious and inquisitive, not to be afraid to ask questions, to doubt, because we live in a world where there are no prepared answers to all questions, and some questions will need to be answered by yourselves.
It is very important that you trust your teachers, who are your helpers, advisors, who will be by your side every day. Taking this opportunity, I want to express deep respect for the teaching profession. Today, the teacher is the axis of the school, the core of the school, the main person in the school who leads us into the future, into answering questions.
I would like to wish you, dear teachers, strength, never to lose optimism, never to give up, even though sometimes you may feel a lack of attention from the authorities and those around you,” said the president, adding that his respect for teachers is special because his own mother worked as a teacher for many years.
The president’s gift to the school was a historic flag, which he presented wishing that this flag would fly alongside the Lithuanian tricolor.
A new primary school in the future
According to the school principal Kristina Bajevienė, this year the school has a record number of first graders, as many as 44. They received their first-grade passports from the president’s hands.
However, the biggest applause was for the speech by Vytautas Vansavičius, director of the Vilnius district municipality administration, who, in addition to his and Mayor Robert Duchnevičius’s words of greeting, also recalled the promise made by the municipality leaders last year to build a modular building for primary school students.
“Last year I gave the school a promise, knowing that the school needs help with space. So I want to rejoice that by the end of this year a modular building will appear next to the school, where primary school classes will be able to breathe freely and live more comfortably, and the whole school will have more space.
And in the future, I think we will definitely look for solutions to establish a new primary school in Maišiagala,” said V. Vansavičius, whose words were met with enthusiastic applause.
More students, but no space
On the eve of the celebration, the gymnasium principal Kristina Bajevienė did not hide that there is no shortage of work before the start of the new school year. This school in Vilnius district is one of those that is growing. The number of students here increases by tens every year, which means that several additional classes are added. However, there has long been a lack of sufficient space for those new classes in the school.
“This year we already have 503 students, last year there were 460, so about 40 more students. We definitely don’t fit everyone, we accepted only as many children as could fit, because our classrooms are not large, we can accommodate a maximum of 24 students in one.
Now we have two classes for every grade, even two classes of eleventh graders. Only the twelfth graders remain unique – we have 22 of them this year, so one class. There are 31 eleventh graders – we have never had that many in our history,” the principal talks about the growing number of students.
The gymnasium building is still quite new – construction began in 2008 and was finally completed at the beginning of 2011. However, at that time there were only a few hundred students, and the new school was designed to accommodate about 290 students.
Now we have two classes for every grade. Only the twelfth graders remain unique – we have 22 of them this year, so one class. There are 31 eleventh graders – we have never had that many in our history.
So the principal is open: “We have already fenced off all the spaces as much as possible, made classrooms in all corridors where it was possible. Somehow we try to squeeze those desks so that a little more children can fit.”
Modular houses are awaited
The school has hope for new premises that would at least partially solve the problem – the Vilnius district municipality has promised to build modular houses this year, into which several primary school classes can move.
“Maybe after the New Year we will have a little more space, we will be able to move the primary classes – six sets – into the modular houses. They promise to build them in November-December, so we think maybe after the winter holidays we will move in if everything goes as planned.
There would be a little more space if it works out that way. But not significantly,” says the gymnasium head.
The short distance from the capital, the growing new private houses, and the young families settling in mean that the number of students at the gymnasium is increasing. And there are not many other Lithuanian schools nearby – Riešė Gymnasium has long been bursting at the seams, and Bukiškis and Avižieniai schools, where Lithuanian is taught, are also full.
The principal is also not inclined to complain about the students’ achievements – true, there was only one top scorer in the last graduation exam session, but even in the whole district there were only 12 top scorers, so the result does not look very bad.
It is also interesting that even a school without a stadium can boast sports achievements, as its volleyball players have long been winning laurels among their peers.
There are teachers, but many more are “desperately” needed
We have teachers for all subjects, but with heavy workloads. We really desperately need teachers.
Asked about teachers, the principal does not hide – although there are teachers, they work with very heavy workloads, so the school staff would definitely like to add new educators. But there is nowhere to find them.
“We have teachers for all subjects, but with heavy workloads. We really desperately need teachers.
Now it is such that teachers of retirement age return – they retired, rested, and come back wanting to help. But there are no young teachers. We feel the shortage too,” says K. Bajevienė, stating that this year her gymnasium still managed to find a math teacher, and there will be an additional Lithuanian language teacher, though only temporarily.
The Vilnius district municipality has an idea of how else it could ease the space problem for this gymnasium. It is considering buying the old Maišiagala cultural center, where space could be made available for the school’s needs.
There are two schools operating in Maišiagala in total. The second is Kun. J. Obrembskis Gymnasium with Polish as the language of instruction.
On September 1st, there will also be guests at the latter – Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius will visit.
