Lithuania's school year extended by 10 days, national defense, sex education courses addded

VILNIUS - Lithuania's new school year starting next week will be ten days longer and several new subjects, including national security and defense and sexuality and family life education, will be added to the curriculum, officials said on Friday.

Education and Science Minister Jurgita Petrauskiene said that the extension would allow spreading learning programs more evenly throughout the school year and would help students to improve their results.

Deputy Education and Science Minister Grazvydas Kazakevicius said that even more days would likely be added to the 2018-2019 school year.

This year, the ministry is introducing a health and sexuality and family life education program into schools.

Also, a national security and defense education program, prepared jointly with the Defense Ministry, is being added as optional course for senior secondary school students.

Over 29,000 first-graders are expected to come to schools this September, down from almost 31,000 last year.