Today, the Riigikogu discussed “Strong rural schools and a strong school network” as a matter of significant national importance at the initiation of the Cultural Affairs Committee.

The topic was presented by the Chairman of the Cultural Affairs Committee Heljo Pikhof, Minister of Education and Research Kristina Kallas, Head of Kilingi-Nõmme Gymnasium Erli Aasamets, and Member of the Management Board of the Association of Estonian Cities and Municipalities and Tori Municipality Mayor Lauri Luur.

The Chairman of the Cultural Affairs Committee Heljo Pikhof called for the restoration of dignity to the teaching profession. She admitted that although Estonia was contributing towards the education system more compared to other countries, this did not ensure a better standard of living for the teachers nor the best possible education because the school network was out of balance.

“The differences are too great between rural and urban schools, between schools in small towns and big cities,” she said. She pointed out that around 25 percent of students attended rural schools and yet the rural schools make up half of all the schools. That is why teachers in rural areas are often underemployed, and there are also more unqualified teachers in rural areas. At the same time, bigger cities, specifically Tallinn and Tartu, lack teachers, a lack which will only be further exacerbated with the transition to the Estonian language of instruction and inclusive education.

Pikhof could see no other alternative to reorganising the school network; however, this should not necessarily mean the wholesale closure of small schools. “The loss of rural schools would not be disastrous for Estonia’s regional development alone, but also to the economy as a whole, our defence capability, Estonia in general. We must find a new format, tailor-made for Estonia,” Pikhof emphasised, acknowledging the work of the Foresight Centre in carrying out research and making suggestions. “One possible solution for sparsely populated areas would be multi-purpose energy efficient communal centres which house small local schools alongside other important service providers. Those could easily fit a library, seminar and cultural spaces for school ceremonies and village parties, but the premises could also be rented out to provide extra income for the community centre.”

“We should definitely discuss whether and how two or more local governments could run a school together,” Pikhof said. She evoked the need for children to go to school at a reasonable distance from their homes, which makes the most suitable school locations often close to the borders of several local governments. “We should also develop solutions for local governments to set up joint schools or community centres,” Pikhof said. She added that a closer cooperation between nearby schools and rural municipalities could also help to balance out any regional surplus or lack of teachers.

The Chairman of the Cultural Affairs Committee highlighted the problem of the growing educational gap due to differences in incomes and values, and added that in this respect, the rural schools were often at a disadvantage compared to schools in bigger cities. Pikhof stressed that we needed a serious dialogue on how to overcome the disadvantages caused by the background of the students.

The Minister of Education and Research Kristina Kallas drew attention to the fact that Estonia was one of the few countries where the education system has been built from the ground up – Estonia’s education system is older than Estonia’s independence.

“In Estonia, we have a nationwide duty and agreement to ensure a common standard of education, a uniform accessibility both in terms of quality as well as volume. A uniformly good education is available in every corner of Estonia from a uniformly well-qualified teachers, following a uniform curriculum and in equal volumes,” Kallas explained the principles of the uniform school system. Next to the uniform school system, she highlighted autonomy, respect for science, and the high status of education and teachers as the founding principles of education in Estonia.

Concerning the principles of the education network, the Minister explained that our schools were very varied, which also provided options for the parents. “Depending on the community, we have 6-year schools, tiny primary schools, a separate system of state secondary schools, large gymnasiums, regional basic schools with different cultural features, and there are also differences in teaching principles,” Kallas listed. She said that the school network also needed to be based on the principle that, for small children in particular, the school must be close to home, while the gymnasium was intended to prepare for university and was not meant to be local.

The Minister explained that our school network had been shaped in the 1980s based on planned economy and the density of population at the time, and no longer corresponded to the current population densities. She added that the so-called pipeline schools, i.e. schools that include all the years from 1 to 12, did not meet the modern needs, unless they were specialised in something. Kallas emphasised the need to respect the basic principles of education and the education network as well as the foundations of inclusive education in reorganising the school network. She would like to see the responsibilities of the state and the local governments in reorganising the school network be clearly set out.

Kallas also gave an overview of the progress in the reorganisation the school network so far. She highlighted a support measure for preserving local schools in rural areas, bringing progymnasiums into rural municipality centres and handing the responsibility for the gymnasium level to the state. She also mentioned the negotiations on the school network reform in Tallinn and the reorganisation of the school network in Ida-Viru County with the support of the European Union, to make sure that the school network would respect the population densities and modern views on education.

The Head of Kilingi-Nõmme Gymnasium Erli Aasamets sees huge educational peculiarities in Estonia which have undoubtedly constituted massive challenges but have also created an excellent and broad base for culture and governance.

Saarde rural municipality on the Latvian border is one of the most sparsely populated local governments, where the school network has been regularly and consciously updated. “We have an excellent experience in reorganising the educational network,” she said. “We have reached the conclusion that our school and kindergarten combination in Surju is the optimal solution. We have concluded that in view of the size of the area and our location, our gymnasium is the perfect size.”

The head of school admitted that their perspective on educational economics might have been unusual. For example, the local government has a tacit agreement that no child should leave home before seven in the morning and the students receive a filling breakfast at the school, paid for by the rural municipality. As a result of 15 years of work, the whole infrastructure has been converged in one place: stadium, sports building, gymnasium, music school, library, day centre, and student dorm. She believes that Saarde rural municipality has dealt with the right topics at the right time and has based its important decisions on scientific premises.

Since 2014, they have had a functioning career model for teachers and a differentiated pay system. Aasamets emphasised that the pay should not increase when a teacher has done a good job for five years, but when the teacher sees what they would like to start doing over the next five years. “It is then that we must support them,” Aasumets stressed.

Member of the Management Board of the Association of Estonian Cities and Municipalities and Tori Municipality Mayor Lauri Luur spoke about his experience in reorganising the school network in Pärnu County. He thinks that organising the school network before the education reform is carried out would be a complicated task, particularly in rural municipalities with only one school.

Luur talked about the falling resident and student numbers and the inevitability of reorganising the school networks in local governments. “Leaders of local governments are also left in no doubt that the school network needs to be optimised. Nobody believes that we can go on like before,” Luur said. He emphasised the need to develop centres and alluded to activity hubs or support activity centres included in the rural municipality plan of Pärnu County, which are sensible places to invest in to ensure the continuation of rural life. Luur admitted that in rural areas where the population numbers kept declining it was not easy to make big investments, for example to reconstruct a gymnasium building or build a new one.

The Mayor suggested directing investments into renovating the school network and drew attention to the fact that local governments needed to finance comprehensive hobby education after the school day in addition to school education.

During the debate, Tõnis Lukas (Isamaa Parliamentary Group), Kadri Tali (Estonia 200 Parliamentary Group), Vadim Belobrovtsev (Estonian Centre Party Group), Mart Helme (Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group), Jevgeni Ossinovski (Social Democratic Party Group), as well as Margit Sutrop and Jürgen Ligi (Estonian Reform Party Group) took the floor.

Photos of the sitting (Author: Erik Peinar / Chancellery of the Riigikogu)

Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)

Video recording will be available to watch later on the Riigikogu YouTube channel.

Riigikogu Press Service
Merilin Kruuse
+372 631 6592, +372 510 6179
[email protected]
Questions: [email protected]