Currently the school in Borskūnai is one of the largest basic schools in Širvintai district. Furthermore the school is the only Polish one in the Širvintai district inhabited by more then 17 thousand people.

The vice-director did not want to predict the future although there are 7 pupils already in the pre-schoolers class, what is quite a lot for such a small town.

There is a nursery-school (for children of 4 years old and up) and a pre-schoolers group (from 6 years old) in the school. And since there are no kindergartens in the Širvintai district (in rural localities), it is an ideal solution for parents. A Lithuanian primary school has been transferred from nearby Medžiukai to Borskūnai last September.

The school is attended by children from nearby locations (Šiauliai, Javniūnai, Miegutės, Vičiūnai, Medžiukai). Children learn in Polish and Lithuanian, but there is a lack of Polish teachers of chemistry or physics, most teachers are Lithuanians. However, there is a positive side of it - children learn not-so-easy Lithuanian terminology and later have no problems in gymnasium or even universities. Teachers are highly qualified. There 19 teachers in total, most of them come from Vilnius.

Bilingual school

There are quite a lot of Lithuanians in the school. This is which why the classes are mixed and the process of learning is carried out in a dual mode - Poles learn in Polish, Lithuanians in Lithuanian. At the request of parents some subjects are being taught only in Lithuanian. School festivals are also being held in two languages.
The lessons of religious education are taught by the master of theology of the Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Warsaw (branch in Białystok) Valerija Buinicka.
Increase of political influences of Poles
The last term of the Širvintai district municipality (2011-2015) was a record high for the representatives of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania (EAPL). '2 deputies from EAPL (Stefanija Tamošiūnienė and Marjan Buinicki) joined the Council for the first time in history. Admittedly, there were times during the mainstream of the independence of Lithuania when there were 2 EAPL representatives in the municipality, but then we were not that strong and politically mature,' stated M. Buinicki.

EAPL was in a ruling coalition during the last term and had its vice-director of administration - Rasa Tamošiūnienė (current EAPL councillor) - and co-ruled in this district. According to Buinicki, this success changed the perception of citizens of the Polish political party. People started to see it as a considerable political force of the district. Ratings went even higher when EAPL deputy Rita Tamašūnienė from Vilnius-Širvintai constituency entered the Seimas. 'Mrs Tamašūnienė pays a lot of attention to our district, she actively help in solving any problems,' said Buinicki.

Safe school
'One lady once said that she would never let her kids to another school because the school in Borskūnai is a safe school,' said the vice-director.

He could not understand this. Of course, there is no physical violence in the school, no fights, no alcohol or cigarettes usage, moral bullying. But she meant something different.

'The school is safe in terms of preparing children - our graduates show great results after going to gymnasium - regardless of whether it is a Polish or a Lithuanian one. The level of education makes it possible for them to continue their learning in any educational institution,' says school's graduate M. Buinicki, working here from last century. 'I came here after graduating from Institute of Education (currently Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences) in 1984.

Long cooperation with Poland
The school in Borskūnai has been cooperating with the municipality of Chełm town in Poland for many years. 'Brilliant people. They helped us a lot. The school building was built in 1964. The only thing that had to be repaired during the period of 50 years was a roof. Meanwhile, our partners from Poland changed windowsills and windows, organised trips to Poland and even bought us a microbus Nysa. It was a very precious gift as at that time parents from nearby villages wanted to let their children to our school, but there were no official connections to Borskūnai. Moreover, our friends from Chełm bought us some floor paint, pens and other thing necessary for learning, clothes and shoes for kids, and more,' listed the vice-director.

Today there are no problems with children transportation to the school as the schools has its own microbus given by the Ministry of Education and Science in Lithuania.

School with Christian tradition
The school has a beautiful tradition.
'Every morning, before the start of lessons, we gather by the Christian Cross in the school hall and read a particular part of a Rosary,' says Buinicki. There is a Cross in every classroom. Also, a painting 'Jezu, ufam Tobie' (Jesus, I trust You) hangs on the wall in a corridor. This painting was given as a gift by the spiritual patron of the school, rector of Maišiagala parish Juzef Aškielovič. There is also a cross near the entrance to the school. More important religious meetings of the school take place there.

History of the school
According to archival documents, the school in Borskūnai was established on 1st September 1910. It was located in a private house. The school activities started on 6th November. It was called people's school then. Michail Pyskalo was a teacher in the school. It was attended by 33 students - 27 boys and 6 girls from 9 to 16 years old. Most were peasants' children from nearby villages. Students were learning in Russian. They were taught reading, writing, counting, drawing, calligraphy, and singing. It is known, that teacher Wiera Preis worked in the school in 1912. A bit later - teacher Zwirkiewicz. The religious education was taught by a priest from church in Karvys.

Years were passing by and the school was educating whole generations. Unfortunately, there is no much information about its activities in first decades because the school building - the farm of Vincenty Matulaniec -went up in flames at the end of the World War II. All the school documents were also destroyed. It is only known that there was a teacher Kozlovski teaching in the school and children were learning in Polish in the last years.

Worth noting and praising is the fact that the school was functioning even during the war.

More detailed information about school comes from 1946 and onwards. We know that there were classrooms in Polish and Lithuanian. The school had a status of a primary school (4 grades). It had many teachers: Stasys Uselis, Vlada Rudakas, Orševskis, S. Spangytė, Matulaniec.

In 1952 the primary school in Borskūnai was transformed in a seven year school. More teachers were invited; the school had a new director - Józef Stankiewicz. In 1956-57 the director was Jarosław Rudalewicz, in 1957-58 - Alina Raczyńska, in 1958-59 - A. Janušauskaitė.

Then lessons were given in separate buildings, even in a nearby village Levaniškės. In 1959 the school was reorganised into a basic one with 8 grades. Ivan Rynkun became a new director of the school (until 1980).

In 1964 the school was relocated to a new building in which it is functioning today. Conditions of learning improved considerably, number of students increased as well. The process of education was carried out in 2 languages - Polish and Russian.

In 1980, Irina Semaško (Orševska), teacher of Russian, became the director of the basic school in Borskūnai. Teacher of Polish, Zofija Mazolevska, became her substitute.
Only Polish classes remained in school in 1986. It had a status of incomplete secondary school. In 1989 the school was transformed to a 9-grade school, in 1996 - to a 10-grade basic school. Classrooms with the Lithuanian teaching languages were back in 2000. In 2005 primary learning branches in Medžiukai were added to the school. There the process of learning is carried out in Lithuanian.

Over 500 students graduated from the school in last 50 years. More than 50 teachers worked in the school, among others: I. Rynkun, Z. Mazolevska, H. Mazolevska, A. Orševska, I. Semaško, A. Meškienė. M. Buinicki, vice director, has been working in the school for many years similarly as teachers V. Buinicka, A. Šapolienė, K. Mikolajūnienė, B. Kasparienė and others.

Currently, the director of the school is Lada Kizina.

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"This project is co-financed from the funds granted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland."