Russian language study drops sharply in Lithuanian schools as German and Spanish gain ground

Lithuania's Ministry of Education, Science and Sport has reported major shifts in students' foreign language choices since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The number of students studying Russian as a second foreign language fell from more than 110,000 in the 2021–2022 academic year to about 65,700 this year, a drop of over 40 percent.

At the same time, German language enrolment rose from 25,000 to 39,000 students over the same period, a 50 percent increase. French gained around 5,000 students, reaching roughly 15,000, while the sharpest rise was recorded in Spanish, which jumped from just 766 students to nearly 15,000. English enrolment grew by about 1,000 students this year, and 279 students chose Polish. The ministry noted that the figures from the start of the school year are still preliminary.

German teaching a priority

Education, Science and Sport Minister Raminta Popovienė said the ministry is currently focusing heavily on strengthening German language instruction. She expects Russian's popularity to keep declining, but said it cannot yet be dropped entirely due to a shortage of teachers for other languages. She predicted the situation should stabilise over the next five to six years.

Starting this September, schools have begun allowing Spanish to be chosen as a first foreign language alongside English, French and German. The ministry has also created new opportunities for native speakers and highly proficient foreign language speakers to become EU language teachers, provided they obtain pedagogical qualifications within two years.

The ministry said some schools have already dropped Russian entirely, with 51 schools doing so during the last academic year. However, municipalities, particularly smaller district schools, continue to face a shortage of foreign language teachers. French and German have been designated priority pedagogical specialisations, with students in these fields eligible for monthly scholarships of 481 euros, rising to 814 euros for those who commit by contract to work at a school under set conditions. Opportunities are also available for already-qualified teachers to gain competencies in another subject. In the 2023–2024 academic year, 48 Russian language teachers took part in an EU-funded free retraining programme, with half choosing to switch to EU languages, mostly German.