VILNIUS, Oct 05, BNS – Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite on Monday praised Sholom Aleichem ORT Gymnasium, a Vilnius-based Jewish school, for promoting Lithuanian patriotism.

“This school is also important because children of various ethnicities attend it, there’s huge competition to get enrolled and it’s a school of high quality. As we saw and heard during this visit, children are being educated in a very patriotic manner as citizens of Lithuania, and I’m very glad about it,” Grybauskaite told journalists during her visit to the school.

The Lithuanian president said she had decided to visit this school on the World Teachers’ Day because of its multinationalism and also because it coincides with the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah that marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. The president praised Sholom Aleichem ORT Gymnasium for not only being a modern school but also for promoting the ethnic community’s traditions, culture and language. “This day is really a joyful day. I am glad that this day also coincides with Simchat Torah. It’s a dual holiday for us all,” Grybauskaite said in her congratulatory speech, addressing teachers and schoolchildren.

532 children from Jewish, Russian and Polish families attend Sholom Aleichem ORT Gymnasium. Classes here take place in Lithuanian but children are also taught Hebrew. A lot of attention is also paid to Lithuania, its culture and history.