The Impact of Depopulation for Changes in the Network of General Education Schools

Abstract

The purpose of the research was to reveal the impact of depopulation for changes in the network of general education schools in problem regions in Lithuania. The topic of the research – problem regions of Lithuania which include 22 sparsely populated municipalities (hereafter – the SPM) where a rural population density does not exceed 12,5 inh/km2. During the research, it was established that depopulation, decreasing population and number of school students affects the degradation of the network of general education schools. This is especially obvious in SPM, where the number of population is decreasing fast: 2001–2017 the number of population in the country decreased by 18 %, in SPM – 28 %; 2001–2016 the number of general education schools in country decreased by 49 %, in SPM – 62 %. This trend is especially striking in Northern East and Southern municipalities of Lithuania which are attributable to problem regions due to the growing social and spatial exclusion. There are no assumptions about the change in the demographic situation in the near future and this means that the network of schools will continue to decrease, only schools in bigger settlements of administrative centers of municipalities have more chances to remain. In order to at least stop the disappearance of the network of general education schools in SPM, there should be reduced requirements for rural schools (lower number of school students in classes, lower obligatory workload for teachers, supplements to salary for teacher etc.), the reorganization of schools should be more deliberate, etc.