"I do not think we should escalate the word illiterate. In fact, Lithuanian people are highly literate within the European Union. In some cases we even surpass other European countries in reading," the advisor dismissed the claims regarding widespread illiteracy.
Budiene relayed the president's greetings to the country's school-leavers and wished to find their path in life and work for the benefit of Lithuania.
Talking about school-leaving examination results, the presidential advisor noted the need for change.
"(...) There are certain deficiencies between different examination results. This examination system was created 20 years ago, thus it has been noticeable for several years now that the examination system needs to be reformed," Budiene said.
According to the advisor, first of all the essence and format of exams has to be reconsidered. Presidential advisor on education and science questioned whether the system still meets the needs of today's society, country, business and every person.
This year 12% of school students failed to pass the state level mathematics exam, 11% failed at history. Meanwhile, 12% of school students failed at the state level Lithuanian language and literature examination which caused the most discussion.
