The initiators of the amendment say that in this way children would receive a proper education and would be safe from harmful enticements of life.
According to MP Vince Vaidevute Margeviciene, the initiator of the amendment, compulsory education until the age of 18 is necessary. "Based on the statistics, we have over 4,000 illiterate people. Majority of them are young people aged 20-30. It means that some twenty years ago, these people, when they were teenagers, left the school.
According to statistics, the number of children aged up to 16, who do not attend school, today accounts to 13,222," said Margeviciene. The draft amendment aims at ensuring compulsory education for children until the age of 18 in general education or vocational schools, encouraging occupation of children and their participation in preventive programmes, raising aware, honest citizens in the environment of safe education institutions, promoting parents' responsibility in taking care of education of their children.
