By Tatjana Babrauskienė, EESC member, Lithuania

The Lithuanian education community is observing the current large-scale and very aggressive military actions by Russia in Ukraine with deep sadness and disbelief and has launched an initiative to teach the younger generation about the myths and reality regarding Ukraine's history.

It is very important to understand the roots of and reasons for the recent unprecedented aggression. One of them is the information war organised by Russia, which incorporates elements of propaganda, disinformation and fake news about Ukraine.

The Lithuanian Education and Science Trade Union (LSMPS-LESTU) has organised a campaign to counter the information war and support Ukraine in Lithuanian schools. On 28 February, we invited teachers of all subjects and leaders of educational institutions to give their first lesson in support of Ukraine and the truth about its history.

Audrius Jurgelevičius, deputy chair of LSMPS/LESTU and a history teacher, gave an open history lesson covering a century of Ukrainian history and the origins of statehood. We broadcast the lesson live online and all Lithuanian schools could join in.

The lesson had three goals: to show, first, that the people living in Ukraine, Ukrainians, are an independent nation and not Russians, and, second, that Ukrainians have been building their own history and their own state, which they are now managing. If they created it themselves, they should be grateful to no one for having a state; and if they owe nobody for having their state, no one has the right to take it away. The third purpose of this lesson was to uncover certain myths that sometimes turn into lies when talking about the history of Ukraine.

The lesson has already been translated into Russian, Polish and English and shared with all continents via the Lithuanian diaspora and Education International.

We prepared stickers and invited pupils to print and display them during the lesson to express their support for Ukraine. We also asked them to capture moments from the lesson and send us the images. We have shared these moments with the Ukrainian educational community, along with a declaration of support and solidarity.

It is very important that we stand united. We cannot allow history to be rewritten.

The lesson with English subtitles is available at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0lu8AM0o8c&t=17s