Agnieszka Rynkiewicz wrote:
Dear Senators, Members of the Committee on Emigration and Contacts with Poles Abroad
I am writing to the Senators as a representative of the Parents' Committee of the Andrzej Stelmachowski Primary School in Stare Trakai, Lithuania, asking for help in saving the existence of two Polish schools in the Trakai region, which are victims of scandalous discrimination on the basis of nationality perpetrated by the regional authorities.
For over three years, the community of the Andrzej Stelmachowski Secondary School in Stare Trakai has been struggling with a sense of injustice and a lack of real support from the authorities of the Motherland. Despite protests, rallies, and the unequivocal opposition of parents, teachers, and students, the school was demoted to a branch of the Trakai Junior High School as of September 1, 2025. After more than three years of struggle by parents of students of the Longin Komołowski Secondary School in Polukny, the Trakai district authorities decided to close it down. The educational reorganization process will result in the school in Polukny operating only as a branch of another school, effectively closing it down. Parents of students from both schools protested several times in Vilnius in front of the Lithuanian government headquarters against the closure of the junior high schools. Just on November 28, 2025, the community of the Komołowski Secondary School celebrated the 110th anniversary of the establishment of the first regular Polish-language school in Polukny. It was also conducted in the town during the German and Soviet occupations. And now the institution has fallen into scandalous disrepair.
The issue of Polish schools is not just a local problem. It is also a test for the Polish authorities, as the closure of Polish schools in Lithuania violates the Polish-Lithuanian Treaty and the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. We need real help to save our Polish schools. I requested assistance in this matter at the EU level during the meeting of the Intergroup on Traditional National and Linguistic Minorities at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on January 22nd of this year, convened at the request of the ECR Group. During the meeting, MEPs discussed the situation of Polish education in Lithuania, with particular emphasis on Polish schools in the Trakai district, which are victims of scandalous discrimination based on nationality. They also expressed surprise at the lack of a decisive response from the Polish authorities.
[...]
As a community of Polish schools being closed, we ask that the Senate of the Republic of Poland and the Polish authorities keep their word and take effective diplomatic steps to save the schools from de facto closure, which threatens the very existence of Polishness in the Trakai region. We are Poles in the Vilnius Region and await effective protection from the Motherland and the assistance of the Senate and the authorities of the Republic of Poland.
Sincerely,
Agnieszka Rynkiewicz
Parent Committee of the Andrzej Stelmachowski Primary School in Stare Trakai
-------
Based on reporting by Dorzeczy(.pl)