Education and Science, Financial Services, Legislation, Lithuania, Wages

According to the minister, this agreement should help in preserving small schools and increasing salaries for teachers.

Pavalkis said that it was a long road of negotiations – it took a year and a half to sign the agreement. The minister expects that this agreement will help in determining directions of common activities, setting clearer conditions for decision making processes.

"We will maintain a common position so that financing for education would not be reduced due to decreasing number of pupils; it will lead to a relative increase in funding for education. Then we will decide where we should spend the saved money. This year it was agreed that we will preserve small schools and change rules for network formation; based on preliminary estimates it will allow preserving 150 schools (). Next year we will direct funds to increasing salaries for teachers," said Pavalkis in an interview to news agency ELTA.