Ossinovski to Take Estonian Language Exam
Minister of Education Jevgeni Ossinovski, an ethnic Russian, plans to take the language proficiency exam required for Estonian citizenship.
The minister plans to find out from personal experience whether the exam is too difficult for foreigners, Eesti Päevaleht reported today.
Last year, the daily’s journalist Rein Sikk took the exam and scored 89 points out of a hundred - not a stellar result for a native speaker who writes for a living. Sikk pointed out the confusing and contradictory instructions and tasks and also said appealing the results has been made very complicated.
According to his article from March last year, Estonia’s exam for C1 level language skills is one of the most difficult in Europe with its 66 percent failure rate (compared to 45 percent in Latvia and 16 percent in Poland).
The foundation Innove, which organizes the exams, said changes are unnecessary and impossible.
Ossinovski, who was born in Estonia and earned his BA at the University of Tartu, will share his thoughts on the exam after taking it on Friday.