At today’s sitting of the Riigikogu, Minister of Education and Research Liina Kersna gave an overview of the developments in education and research, focusing on the topics of exiting from the pandemic, the new generation of teachers, Estonian-language education and higher education funding.

When speaking of distance learning, Kersna stated that it had created learning gaps, and the constantly changing circumstances and uncertainty had also affected the mental health of young people. “In the opinion of scientists and experts, learning gaps are cumulative by nature. Lagging behind in studies aggravates increasingly in following academic years. Study motivation declines, causing interruption of studies later, which in turn brings about social costs and reduces people’s success in the labour market.”

In Kersna’s words, owners of schools have received a total of 17 million euro to bridge learning gaps in order to offer needs-based additional support to students: individual consultations, studies in smaller groups, additional lessons and courses, or the hiring of assistant teachers. The state has also included in-service trainings in educational science in the list of free courses in order to prepare assistants to teachers who could prevent and bridge learning gaps of students in general education schools, and 11 online courses to prepare for final examinations have been commissioned from universities.

When speaking of mental health targets, the minister said that, in the pandemic conditions, these problems needed to be addressed intensively. She pointed out that, in order to improve the situation, in cooperation with the association of school psychologists, the free advice line 1226 had been opened, which provided help to students, education workers as well as parents. Kersna also mentioned the weekly online seminars “Smarter from Distance” for teachers and heads of school, mental health first aid trainings for youth sector workers, and the series of lectures on mental health for parents commissioned from the Association of Estonian Folk High Schools and the non-profit organisation “Minutes of Silence”.

“The last two years have required quick adaptation, acquisition of new skills and flexible adjustment to rapidly changing circumstances from education sector parties. This crisis has been a development accelerator to test flexible ways of learning and assessment, to focus on the student and transform studies to be student-based, as provided in the Education Sector Development Plan,” Kersna said. “Our most important short-term goal is to overcome the coronavirus crisis as healthily as possible and to take along all the important lessons learned from this crisis. The quality of education and the welfare of the student will continue to be in focus because stressed and frightened children are unable to study according to their abilities,” the minister added.

In her report, Kersna spoke of the shortage of teachers, the qualifications of new teachers and their staying in school, the recruitment of heads of schools, teachers’ salary, higher education funding and language immersion programmes. When speaking of teachers’ salaries, the minister said that this year the average salary of teachers in Estonia was 1653 euro, which was comparable to the average monthly salary in Estonia at present. “The aim is to achieve that the average salary of teachers would be 2336 euro by 2025, which, according to forecasts, will make up 120 per cent of the average gross salary in Estonia,” she added.

In conclusion, according to Kersna, the main short-term activities for the Ministry of Education and Research will be directed in particular at exiting the coronavirus pandemic globally, the ensuring of the next generation of teachers and the improvement of the management quality of educational institutions, the implementation of the action plan for Estonian-language education and the ensuring of higher education funding.

During the debate, Eduard Odinets took the floor on behalf of the Social Democratic Party Faction, Jaak Valge on behalf of the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Faction, Margit Sutrop on behalf of the Reform Party Faction, Marko Šorin on behalf of the Centre Party Faction and Viktoria Ladõnskaja-Kubits on behalf of the Faction Isamaa.

The Riigikogu passed an Act

The Act on Amendments to the State Pension Insurance Act and Other Acts (475 SE), initiated by the Government, solves the problems that have arisen in practice in the implementation of the State Pension Insurance Act and ensures legal clarity. The Funded Pensions Act is also amended.

The amendments to the State Pension Insurance Act ensure continuation of the payment of survivor’s pension to 18–24-year-old students in the month of September regardless of whether the information on their studies has already been entered in the Estonian Education Information System or not. Under the current procedure, the survivor’s pension for the previous month is paid in arrears in October, but this results in a one-month period of no income for the people who receive the pension.

In the future, pensioners residing abroad will be able to prove that they are alive also through an electronic channel. Under the current procedure, they have to submit a written document approved by an administrative agency of their country of residence or an Estonian foreign mission.

The Act also provides that the time when the person is a member of a management or controlling body of a legal person is included in the years of his or her pensionable service if the social tax has been paid for this period.

According to the amendments to the Funded Pensions Act, the persons with incapacity for work who have retired from the second pillar can start collecting money in the second pillar again or suspend receiving the pension if they have not yet attained the old age pension age but their capacity for work has been restored. Currently they do not have such a right.

The amendments made during the second reading ensure that the support paid as a temporary measure to mitigate the rise in energy price cannot be attached to cover debts and the support paid is not taken into account as income in the payment of the unemployment insurance benefit.

The amendments to the State Pension Insurance Act are scheduled to enter into force on 1 June 2022, and the amendments to the Funded Pensions Act on 1 January 2023.

75 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of passing the Act and one was against.

One Bill passed the second reading

The Bill on Amendments to the Media Services Act and Amendments to Other Associated Acts (327 SE), initiated by the Government, will allow to transpose into Estonian legal space the European Union Audiovisual Media Services Directive and to apply it.

According to the Bill, the scope of application of the Media Services Act will also include video-sharing platforms and social media channels, such as YouTube, Vimeo and Dailymotion. In order to provide a service, it will be necessary to submit a notice of economic activities to the register of economic activities and to set out the procedure for blocking illegal content in the terms and conditions.

The Bill will adjust the regulation of the Act, including the activity licence system, to correspond to new audiovisual media services, for example the web television of larger news portals. This means that the providers of the service will have to apply for an activity licence, submit reports on the programme structure and disclose their ownership structure.

The Bill will harmonise the rules for ensuring the protection of minors and morality and legality applicable to the television service and the on-demand audiovisual media service, e.g. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, iTunes, as well as to domestic videos-on-demand. In order to improve access to audiovisual media services for persons with disabilities, service providers will be obliged to draw up accessibility action plans.

The Bill will also make other amendments, for example, a quota for European works will be set for on-demand audiovisual media service providers that will have to be at least 30 per cent of the catalogue of programmes. Audiovisual media service providers will also have an obligation to disclose their ownership structure. The Ministry of Education and Research will be responsible for the promotion of media competence. The time limit for submitting replies to assertions made in programmes broadcast on television or radio will be extended to 30 days from the current 20 days. It will be further emphasised that the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority as the national supervisory body for the media sector is independent in the performance of its functions, and the conditions necessary for the exercise of supervision will be created. Among other things, the time limits for preserving the recordings of programmes will be extended to 30 up to 90 days from the current 20 days, depending on the type of the activity licence necessary to provide the television or radio service.

The amendments proposed with the Bill will mainly affect the Estonian audiovisual media service providers, around a couple of dozen undertakings.

The Cultural Affairs Committee also decided to make amendments to the Bill. According to a motion to amend, the volume of mandatory news programmes will be reduced, that is, the obligation of television and radio service providers to broadcast news will be reduced from six days to five days a week, and the share of news programmes in the programme from five per cent to two per cent.

The Committee also supported the amendment under which temporary television licences will be granted for up to three months instead of the current one month, because one month may be too short a period for covering world championships and Olympic Games. The Committee also decided to make an amendment under which the holder of a temporary television licence will not have to draw up an accessibility action plan in so far as it is drawn up for four years at a time.

The Committee also supported the motion to amend under which the audiovisual media service provider will have to attach an accessibility action plan to its application already upon application for a television licence.

In addition, the Committee decided to amend the provision in the Bill concerning ensuring legality in the provision of the media service. According to the motion to amend, media services must not incite hatred, violence or discrimination based on any group characteristic, e.g. because of citizenship, gender, race or age if this causes a threat to the life, health or property of a person.

During the debate, Jüri Jaanson (Reform Party), Jaak Juske (Social Democratic Party), Tarmo Kruusimäe (Isamaa), Peeter Ernits (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), Eduard Odinets (Social Democratic Party), Heidy Purga (Reform Party), Andres Metsoja (Isamaa), Aadu Must (Centre Party), Aivar Kokk (Isamaa), Heiki Hepner (Isamaa) and Mihhail Lotman (Isamaa) took the floor.

Five Bills passed the first reading

The Bill on Amendments to the Equal Treatment Act and the Churches and Congregations Act (519 SE), initiated by the Government, will harmonise the scope of application of the Equal Treatment Act so that discrimination based on religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation would be prohibited to the same extent as in the case of nationality, race and colour. This means a prohibition on discrimination, besides the areas of employment and vocational training, in receiving the social welfare, healthcare and social security services, including social advantages; education; and access to and supply of goods and services which are available to the public, including housing. With the amendment of the Act, all the above-mentioned groups will be able to turn to the Equality Commissioner. The amendments are planned to enter into force on 1 July 2023. In addition to the extension of the scope of application of the Act, the Bill contains some amendments concerning the rules of legislative drafting and specification, including the measures to ensure the rights and freedoms of persons with disabilities, in connection with the accessibility of products and services Directive due to enter into force. The amendment will extend the competence of the Equality Commissioner by ensuring better legal protection for getting assistance in the event of discrimination cases.

During the debate, Aivar Kokk (Isamaa), Martin Helme (Estonian Conservative People’s Party) and Eduard Odinets (Social Democratic Party) took the floor.

The Estonian Conservative People’s Party Faction and the Faction Isamaa moved to reject the Bill at the first reading. 22 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of the motion and 49 voted against. Thus, the motion was not supported and the first reading of the Bill was concluded.

The Bill on Amendments to the Police and Border Guard Service Act and Other Acts (harmonisation of special services) (508 SE), initiated by the Government, is intended to ensure the availability of additional staff to the Police and Border Guard Board in crisis situations and to harmonise the calculation of the salary and pension of police officers with the general civil service system.

One of the important amendments is the establishment of assistant police officers with a crisis role. This means that, during exceptional events, assistant police officers who have received specialised training can help resolve crisis situations, instead of doing their everyday work, and receive their average salary from the state during that time. It will be possible to engage the Defence League for the same purpose. In this way, it will be possible to ensure that the Police and Border Guard Board has the necessary reserve of volunteers for the resolution of crisis situations. The Bill will also create an opportunity to transfer police officers to aggregate working time in order that, in crisis situations, they could also be engaged in other times than their ordinary working time.

The Bill will make amendments concerning the calculation of the salaries and pensions of police officers and rescue workers. According to the Bill, rescue workers will be able to begin to receive pre-pension allowance on the decision of the medical commission five years, instead of three years, before their old-age pension age. At the same time, workers will be given assurance that increased old-age pension and pre-pension allowance will also be paid to them after 2023. In addition, changes will be made to the salary system of police officers, and the principles of salary administration in the Civil Service Act will be adopted. The salary of police officers consists of various components, but according to the Bill, they will be included in the base salary, and the total salary will be taken as the basis for the pension of police officers. This will help ensure equal treatment of police officers and other special servants when granting pensions.

According to the Bill, they will also be able to collect years of superannuated pension until 2036 after which the system will be abandoned. The salary of the people working in internal security must be valued already when they take up employment. The amendment to the Act will not change anyone’s pension retroactively.

According to the Bill, the terms of office of top-level internal security managers will be made temporary. It will be possible to vet people who take up employment or traineeship and service providers, like cleaners, and to transfer suspects in criminal proceedings to other jobs. Taking up volunteering will also be encouraged and equal treatment of volunteers and professionals in the event of injury will be ensured.

Heljo Pikhof (Social Democratic Party) took the floor during the debate.

The Bill on Amendments to the Act on the Accession to the Convention between the Kingdom of Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Kingdom of Spain, the French Republic, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Republic of Austria on the stepping up of cross-border cooperation, particularly in combating terrorism, cross-border crime and illegal migration (509 SE), initiated by the Government, will simplify the making and amending of the declaration on the designation of the national contact points, the national contact and coordination points and competent authorities and officers set out in the “Prum Act”. They are technical amendments.

The Bill on Amendments to the Feed Act (499 SE), initiated by the Government, will establish the requirements for the manufacture, placing on the market and use of medicated feed and intermediate products. The Bill has been drafted on the basis of a new legal act of the European Union that entered into force from 28 January. Therefore it is necessary to amend the relevant provisions of the Feed Act. The general principles remain the same.

According to the Bill, for example, certain feed business operators will be subject to an authorisation obligation because, under an EU Regulation, in the future, feed business operators will have to hold an activity licence if their establishments engage in the manufacture, transport or placing on the market of medicated feed or intermediate products. Under the current procedure, an activity licence is required only in the case of the manufacture of medicated feed. In Estonia, nine feed business operators are holding such an activity licence. They can continue their activities on condition that they submit, by 28 July, a notification to the Agriculture and Food Board to the effect that their activities comply with the specific requirements set out in the EU Regulation. The Bill provides that, upon retail of medicated feed for pets, the feed business operator will have to submit a notice of economic activities.

The Bill will also update the maximum penalty rates in place for legal persons in the Feed Act, which will range from 10,000 to 32,000 euro in the future. It will be possible to impose a fine of up to 50,000 euro on a legal person for violation of the requirements for feed, the requirements for the labelling of feed and the requirements for the handling of feed and feeding to animals.

The Bill on Amendments to the Taxation Act (providing data on construction works) (506 SE), initiated by the Government, provides that, in the construction sector, it will be mandatory to determine a contractual chain and the time spent on the construction site. The main obligated person is the main contractor who, in addition to the obligation to identify the subcontractor, will also have the obligation to confirm in the online environment of the Tax and Customs Board, based on prefilled data, the construction works subject to the reporting obligation and to submit the data of the contracting entity of the contraction works.

The main contractor should also be responsible for acquiring an electronic registration system for the construction site that enables to fix the time spent on the construction site. In order to use the system (for collecting and transmitting data and verifying data with the help of the system of the Tax and Customs Board) and to facilitate the identification of the people on the construction site, a single format of workers’ cards will be provided for.

A contractual partner of the Tax and Customs Board who will be found by way of public procurement will prepare and issue the cards. In order to preserve innovativeness and flexibility in the collection of data, the main contractor will be reserved the freedom to also use ID-card or another means of identification (incl. mobile application) compatible with the central registration system on the construction site where necessary and possible.

The Bill will mitigate the high tax risk of the construction sector, the risks related to the use of foreign labour and the working environment and occupational safety risks.

The explanatory memorandum notes that the violation of the VAT liability and the partial payment of envelope wages are impacting the state budget in an estimated amount of minus 20 million euro a year.

During the debate, Aivar Kokk (Isamaa) and Riina Sikkut (Social Democratic Party) took the floor.

The sitting ended at 9.55 p.m.

Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)

The video recording of the sitting will be available on the Riigikogu YouTube channel.
(Please note that the recording will be uploaded with a delay.)

Riigikogu Press Service
Merilin Kruuse
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