New legislation would require ethnic minority schools to teach more subjects, including Lithuanian history, in the Lithuanian language, which is unrelated to Polish.

Ethnic Poles, the largest minority in Lithuania, fear the change of law will put them at a disadvantage and the Polish government urged Vilnius to seek a compromise.

“We might get worse grades as we haven’t been studying the Lithuanian language as much (as in Lithuanian schools). Why can’t they give us more time to implement the new rules,” said student protester Edwin, who declined to give his surname.

Under the changes, the ethnic Poles would have to take exams in the Lithuanian language from 2013. Currently, most subjects in Lithuania’s Polish schools are taught in Polish.

Michal Mackevic, an ethnic Polish member of Lithuania’s parliament, said Vilnius had ignored calls to delay the changes despite the collection of about 60,000 signatures against the amendments, which he said “in fact eliminate Polish schools.”

The Polish government, which has long complained about Lithuania’s treatment of the ethnic Polish minority on a range of issues from the spelling of Polish names in documents to land disputes, said it would raise the schools matter with Vilnius.

“We regret that the Lithuanian authorities have not engaged in a dialogue about this new law with the group it affects most, that is the Polish minority there, as well as other minorities,” Polish foreign ministry spokesman Marcin Bosacki said.

“We urge a quick start to such a dialogue because it is the only way in which this crisis can be resolved,” he told reporters, adding that Polish and Lithuanian leaders would also discuss the matter during talks this month in Riga.

The Lithuanian government has said the changes are aimed at helping ethnic minorities integrate into society.

“We would help teachers and students to learn the state language because that would improve mutual understanding and provide better possibilities in the labor market for national minorities,” President Dalia Grybauskaite said in a statement.

The government said there were about 80 schools catering for the ethnic Polish minority, which represents about 7 percent of Lithuania’s total population of about three million.

Poland and Lithuania, both members of the European Union and NATO, were joined in a common state for centuries from the Middle Ages and have had mostly good ties since Vilnius regained its independence in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union.