Alytus politicians decided to reorganize 6 educational institutions

At the meeting of the Alytus City Municipality Council held on Thursday, it was decided that six educational institutions will undergo changes from September 1. It is intended to connect the nursery-kindergarten “Boružėlė” to the Likiškielii pro-gymnasium, the “Drevinukos” school-kindergarten to the Vidzgiris school, and the “Nykštukas” nursery-kindergarten to the Piliakalnis pro-gymnasium. “Drevinukas” will remain a separate branch of the school for the time being.

The following spoke in more detail on this topic on the air of radio station FM99: Kristina Šiupienytė, chairperson of the Alytus Active Parents Community, Povilas Labukas, the opposition representative, Mindaugas Šima, the head of the Social Democratic faction, and Valerijus Vencius, a member of the council.

The change project was prepared after assessing the current situation in educational institutions and the results of a five-year demographic statistical analysis.

According to Mindaugas Šima, certain decisions were already made during the previous term, and the transformation plan was approved. “That plan is very soft and we are not making any revolution. We are slightly adjusting what was adopted by the previous council. A small correction affects 6 educational institutions. Only those institutions that currently do not have managers are being reorganized. After expanding the institutions, we will reduce part of the economic expenses so that we can invest them in the quality of education”, said M. Šima.

Meanwhile, council member Valerijus Vencius says that the transformation is being implemented under the guise of savings, but the public does not receive any reports on how much has been saved and where that money will be invested.

Kristina Šiupienytė, the chairperson of the Alytus Active Parents Community, said that parents and employees of educational institutions are afraid of changes, because they do not know what awaits them. Currently, there is a lack of information and the transformation of education in Alytus during these four years brought a lot of tension and people’s dissatisfaction. And school and kindergarten communities protect the legitimate interests of children and themselves.

Opposition representative Povilas Labukas, who participated in the discussion, explains that when making this decision, there was a lack of information, analysis, how much will be saved and what criteria were chosen to merge these institutions. “Council members once again had to make a particularly responsible decision, without any detailed information, even state institutions asked for information, but it was not provided.”

The decision to reorganize 6 educational institutions was made. 17 council members voted for it, 6 were against.