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Education
“Can we overcome intolerance, indifference?”
“Yes, with teachers, with education.”
Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize Winner
 One of the main goals of the Commission is to educate society – to make public and disseminate the generated information, to inform citizens and students of all age groups about the crimes of totalitarian regimes, and their aftereffects to Lithuanian society and international community.
In 2002, Lithuania became a member of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research, making a commitment to discuss regularly the issue of the Holocaust in Lithuanian schools, universities and public organizations, to inform the public, especially young people, of the latest researches of modern history.
In 2003, National Holocaust Education Programme was prepared and approved on the basis of the Teaching about the Crimes of Totalitarian Regimes, Prevention of Crimes against Humanity and Tolerance Education Programme (Tolerance Education Programme), which has been implemented by the Commission since 2002.
Main Principles of the Tolerance Education Programme
New pedagogical approach – from history learning to personal and social changes focusing on the development of system of values, attitudes, knowledge and skills.
Multidisciplinary approach – to present historical information in the context of other subjects: social sciences, literature, ethics, religion, arts, etc.
Individualising and contextualising history – to show the crimes of the Nazi and Soviet occupation regimes in the broader historical context, teaching to estimate the repressions not only by figures and facts but also by people’s destinies.
Tolerance Education Programme promotes not only brain-based learning but also learning with hearts and hands.
Commission seeks:
• To analyse and evaluate critically historical events eliminating prejudices and old stereotypes
• To show the danger of radical ideologies
• To integrate teaching about the crimes of totalitarian regimes into curriculum of the secondary school
• To teach remembrance for prevention of crimes against humanity by promoting tolerance, equality and human dignity
 Strategic goal of the Tolerance Education Programme – the development of mature and responsible civil society, tolerance and respect for universally accepted human values.
The implementation of the programme is carried out in 4 major directions:
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The mane principal of the implementation of the program is “C3” – Coordination, Consolidation and Cooperation – of the efforts between all the governmental and non-governmental organizations of Lithuania and other countries.
The Tolerance Education Programme was highly evaluated by the programme “Teaching Remembrance and Education for the Prevention of Crimes against Humanity” in Council of Europe and is suggested as an example for the other countries. The Executive Director of the Commission Ronaldas Račinskas is the expert in the Council of Europe on the questions of teaching about totalitarian regimes.
“We choose a new pathway by giving emphasis on education, development of system of values and attitudes and not simply on facts in teaching.”
Ronaldas Račinskas, Executive Director of the Commission
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