Raising Civic Awareness (LT0010)

Enhancing the quality and competitive capacity of general and higher education systems: civic and historical education has been updated at schools. Civic and national identity education projects have been implemented. Arrangements have been made for educational civic activities and personal development across the country, various organisational forms thereof are being developed, thus encouraging the strengthening of local and national organisations of pupils and students. 2. The growth of the Civic Empowerment Index in 2012 was 35.0, in 2017 – 40.0. 3. Growth of the Civic Empowerment Index for pupils and students in 2013 was 46.0, and in 2014 – 46.7

Commitment 4. Raising Civic Awareness

Commitment Text:

Initiative 2: Public participation in public governance

Area: raising civic awareness

Action: To update civic and historical education at school

Expected outcome:

1. Enhancing the quality and competitive capacity of general and higher education systems: civic and historical education has been updated at schools. Civic and national identity education projects have been implemented. Arrangements have been made for educational civic activities and personal development across the country, various organisational forms thereof are being developed, thus encouraging the strengthening of local and national organisations of pupils and students.
2. The growth of the Civic Empowerment Index in 2012 was 35.0, in 2017 – 40.0.
3. Growth of the Civic Empowerment Index for pupils and students in 2013 was 46.0, and in 2014 – 46.7.

[Emphasis added]

Responsible institution: Ministry of Education and Science

Supporting institutions: Not specified

Start date: 2014.....................   ...................... End date: 2020

Commitment aim:

This commitment aims to update the civil education curriculum in schools. However, the commitment is unclear about what projects and initiatives should be conducted, and it does not include sufficient information about performance and outcome indicators.

Status

Midterm: Limited

According to the midterm report, both milestones were ongoing and in different stages of completion. While teachers interviewed by the IRM researcher viewed the steps in reforming civic education as positive, CSO experts interviewed had a considerably more critical take. Some of these criticisms had to do with the lack for resources allocated to implement the reforms and the lack of CSO involvement in developing the civic education curriculum. 

See midterm report for a detailed analysis.

End of term: Substantial

The key development in the civic education policy area is that the Ministry of Education and Science developed and issued a 2016–2020 interinstitutional strategic activity plan on civic education.^{[Note 21: The legal act can be found here: https://www.e-tar.lt/portal/lt/legalAct/3326bca0f26a11e5989ee743dd0efbb0.]} It aims to strengthen youth civil and national perception skills (taking into account geopolitical realities in the region, kids will be taught how to recognise signals of information warfare, for instance).^{[Note 22: A press release can be found here: https://www.smm.lt/web/lt/pranesimai_spaudai/naujienos_1/sutelkiamas-demesys-i-pilietini-ir-tautini-ugdymajis-tampa-kryptingas-nuoseklus-itraukiamos-skirtingos-organizacijos.]} The plan also includes education on democratic skills, such as critical thinking and political skills. It also aims to involve a wider range of actors in civic education, including NGOs in Lithuania, recognising their importance in youth civic education. However, the plan does not specify concrete action to complete these goals and only sets down interinstitutional coordination procedures and overall goals.  An interinstitutional working group is to gather on an annual basis and report on progress in pursuing the goals set out in the plan.

Did it open government?

As implemented, this commitment has not contributed to opening government practice. The main activities have targeted national identity teaching rather than focusing on educating the public about their rights and responsibilities, an application that could strengthen overall citizen empowerment in the country. However, the forthcoming interinstitutional activity plan now includes youth democratic skills building; thus, it can be expected that citizen empowerment will in fact be addressed in the period of 2016–2020.

Carried forward?

There is no commitment in the third national action plan that targets the civic education policy area.