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On 9 November 2011 the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Meile Luksiene, Habil. Dr., was announced among one of the celebrations with which UNESCO will be associated in 2012-2013. The announcement took place during the 36^th General Conference of UNESCO in Paris. M. Luksiene deserved UNESCO’s attention for her extremely significant role in developing the modern educational system and in democratizing the Lithuanian society.

M. Luksiene (1913-2009), whose 100^th birth anniversary will be celebrated in 2013, wrote and co-authored numerous books on the theme of education. She also headed the Department of Lithuanian Literature of Vilnius University. In the Soviet times, M. Luksiene was charged with nationalism and anti-Sovietism, which led to her removal from the University. Later she was accepted to work at the Pedagogical Institute of Scientific Research. M. Luksiene was a member of the initiative group of the Lithuanian movement Sajudis and one of the creators of the Lithuanian reform in the education domain.

In 2004 M. Luksiene was awarded the UNESCO Jan Amos Comenius medal, which is one of the most prestigious UNESCO awards. This medal honours those who have significantly contributed to education in general.

By associating itself to the anniversaries of eminent personalities and commemorations of historic events, UNESCO provides them with visibility. The rationale of this initiative is to promote between nations international understanding and general knowledge of important works and events, as well as of significant work carried out by devoted personalities.

In 2012-2013 UNESCO will be associated with 98 celebrations from all over the world, such as the 150^th anniversary of the birth of Claude Debussy, 300^th anniversary of the birth of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 300^th anniversary of the birth of Denis Diderot, 50^th anniversary of the death of Hermann Hesse, 100^th anniversary of the birth of Albert Camus, 200^th anniversary of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner, 200^th anniversary of the birth of Soren Kierkegaard, and others.

In previous years UNESCO already associated itself with several Lithuanian celebrations, commemorated nationally or together with other countries. These were the following: the 450^th anniversary of the publication of the first work in the Lithuanian language “Common Words in the Catechism” by Martynas Mažvydas (in 1997), 200^th anniversary of the birth of Adomas Mickevičius (in 1998), 200^th anniversary of the birth of Ignas Domeika (in 2002), 100th anniversary of the restoration of Lithuanian publication in the Latin alphabet (in 2004), as well as the 100^th anniversary of the death of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis and the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Česlavas Milošas (both in 2011).  

Information provided by the Lithuanian National UNESCO Commission