At a roundtable of parties’ education experts hosted by Postimees showed that while most agree that there education is key for Estonia’s future, there are differences on how to actually achieve it.
Tõnis Lukas, current minister of education (IRL), says that Estonia cannot wait until the general administration reform at a time when the number of students is falling so dramatically and is affecting quality. “We need to react and do it now. The education system must lead the process, not to wait for it to catch up.”
Peeter Kreitzberg (Social Democrat) said that the whole education system needs a feasibility study. “We have half-empty schools which do nothing but heat air. We need a cost analysis since we have not been only spending, but also wasted money in our education system.” Kreitzberg believes that this could help to increase also teachers’ wages.
Mailis Reps (Centre Party) and former minister of education: “The most acute issues in the society today are social problems, poverty and hunger, and it applies also to schools. We are in a situation where teachers have become social workers in order to solee education problems.”
Paul-Eerik Rummo (Reform Party): “Focus should be on quality issues and setting clear criteria for measuring quality in education. We must look at the education system as an integrated whole, a logical structure of education levels and directions. This must be the basis for the new education system that will allow focusing on individuals.”
Raivo Juurak (Greens): “The state should allocate more money for language immersion. Russian youth who have undergone language immersion training have no problem in studying in any Estonian school. We need to find more money to train language immersion teachers and should even lend it, if necessary. This would be a one-time cost that would solve a huge and long-overdue problem.”
Toomas Hõbemägi
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