Every 10th High School Student to Live in Dormitory After Reforms
One of the results of planned reforms for the general education system - which would reduce the number of high schools in Estonia from 220 to 70 - would be that every 10th upper-secondary student (16 to 20-year-olds) will be living in student housing.
Students living in rural areas would be most affected by the decrease in schools.
Currently, around 1,550 lower-secondary students and 500 upper-secondary students live in some 70 student residences, which are either owned by the state, municipalities or private owners, according to the Ministry of Education.
After the wave of high school closures, around 2,400 upper-secondary students will be living in student dorms.
Currently, accommodation costs at dormitories of state-owned schools are fully covered by the government, ministry spokesman Rein Joamets told ERR News. The majority of student residences, however, are governed by municipalities, whose policies vary. For municipal-owned dorms, the national government only subsidizes students with financial difficulties.
Kalle Küttis, undersecretary at the Ministry of Education, told Eesti Päevaleht that the financing scheme for the new dorm system is not yet clear. The ministry expects that most of the dorms will be placed outside of bigger cities in order to curb students' migration out of rural areas.
Ingrid Teesalu