After Nausėda’s criticism, Sinkevičius says he still trusts Education Minister Popovienė

Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius says he trusts Education, Science and Sports Minister Raminta Popovienė, despite President Gitanas Nausėda’s criticism of how the government is addressing problems in education.

“I trust the minister, I see her work and efforts,” Sinkevičius told Žinių radijas on Wednesday. He said he had recently initiated a working group that the minister would lead. Its aim, he said, was to review the education system, identify its weak points and address problems through targeted intervention rather than launch another routine reform.

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I trust the minister, I see her work and efforts.

Sinkevičius acknowledged that some education-sector problems cannot be solved within a single term of office. He nevertheless called education a priority and said there was still enough time over the next two years to make progress. He said the government wanted every child to have an equal, or at least similar, starting point in life and a future career, regardless of location or family circumstances.

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We really want to review the entire education system, look at its flaws, not think about routine education reforms, but identify the pain points and problems and solve them quickly through targeted, surgical intervention.

Nausėda said on Tuesday that he saw many challenges in education and questioned whether Popovienė was merely simulating efforts to solve them. The minister said she respected the president’s view but did not feel she was only pretending to work. She linked the criticism to the cancellation of a minimum threshold in the assessment taken by pupils in the final year of basic school.

Parliament backed the president’s veto and postponed until September 2029 a requirement under which pupils would need to reach at least a threshold level in the assessment to obtain basic education. The issue has drawn opposition from parts of the education community. Thirty-six education, science, business and civic organisations had urged Nausėda to veto the change, while the president returned the amendments to parliament for reconsideration in late July.

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I want every child, regardless of geography or family circumstances, to have, if not an equal, then at least a similar start in life and in their career.