Lower house votes to eliminate national minorities’ languages from school instruction

November 10, BPN. The House of Representatives voted for school instruction only in Belarusian and Russian, approving a bill regulating the use of languages in Belarus, the lower house’s press office reported.

The bill brings legislation into line with the new Education Code that requires all schools in Belarus to provide instruction only in the official languages starting from September 2022. Thus, national minorities in Belarus lose the right to receive education in their mother tongues.

In September, authorities closed Lithuanian-funded school in Pialesa, located in the Hrodna region’s Voranava district, over alleged safety issues.

The Lithuanian foreign ministry criticized the decision as a violation of bilateral agreements between Lithuania and Belarus. Funded by the Lithuanian government, the Pialesa school had provided instruction in Lithuanian since 1992.

Earlier, the authorities forced Polish-language schools in Hrodna and Vaŭkavysk to switch to Russian as their language of instruction.