Nausėda questions whether Lithuania’s education minister is only imitating problem-solving

President Gitanas Nausėda used a vivid image to describe what he sees as Lithuania’s approach to education problems: sweeping dust under a carpet and pretending the room still looks clean.

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When we face serious problems, there are two ways: to have the courage to stand up to the problem and think about how to solve it, or to try to sweep the dust under the carpet.

Speaking to Žinių radijas on Tuesday, Nausėda said serious problems require either the courage to confront them or an attempt to hide them. He said he was increasingly getting the impression that officials were choosing the second option. Asked whether he trusted Education, Science and Sport Minister Raminta Popovienė, he did not give a direct answer. Instead, he said he wanted to ask her at a certain point whether she intended to solve problems or imitate a solution.

The president said administrative requirements for teachers had become excessive. He rejected the idea of treating education as a declining system and argued that schools must respond to the challenges facing both teachers and students. He said authorities had lowered qualitative and quantitative standards while adding paperwork that pushed teachers, including young people starting their careers, toward leaving schools.

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Do you want to solve problems, or do you want to imitate a solution?

Nausėda also defended his veto of a proposal to cancel the requirement for tenth-graders to reach a minimum level in the Basic Education Achievement Test. He said schools should not demand only attendance and orderly participation, without requiring educational results. He compared removing the threshold to allowing every basketball team, including Lithuania’s national team, to enter a world championship without qualifying, saying such a move would discourage both struggling students and those who set ambitious goals.

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It is completely unacceptable for me to look at education as a declining system.

He further warned that Lithuania must not forget its earlier commitment to raise teachers’ salaries to 130% of the national average wage, calling failure to meet it unacceptable and shameful. Parliament backed the president’s veto and postponed the minimum-achievement requirement until September 1, 2029.

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That is completely unacceptable, it is shameful, and we cannot allow ourselves to do this.