The capital hopes to attract Estonian-speaking teachers to Russian-speaking schools and kindergartens by increasing the salary fund starting this fall. It will be up to school principals to decide how to use the funds – whether to raise the salaries of teachers who teach children with different native languages in Estonian, hire support specialists, or new teachers.

Although the exact budget is not yet in place, the additional cost to the salary fund is several million.

"This additional funding is based on the number of students transitioning to Estonian-language instruction in a given educational institution and how many children speak other languages, not just Russian," explained Deputy Mayor Aleksei Jašin (Eesti 200).

"For example, in the case of language immersion, it's about €300-600 euros a year. The question is what the current capability is, and that will become clear in the second week of May," he said.

Lasnamäe High School, one of the schools with Russian currently as its language of instruction, is recruiting Estonian-speaking teachers. There were interviews with two candidates on Thursday morning. According to Principal Oksana Joganson, the extra money is only initially motivating and may create inequality.

"In a situation where we have many teachers whose native language is Estonian, how are they supposed to feel? Okay, it is one thing when teaching subjects in Estonian get a bonus, but if a teacher passes an exam and now has a C1 proficiency level, and only receives the extra €50-100 euros, I think that creates a bit of inequality. Also towards those Estonian-speaking teachers," she commented.

While Narva attracts teachers by offering one and a half times the [average] gross salary, Tallinn does not see this as an option.

"We cannot create differences of €1,000 between teachers' salaries in Tallinn. It would be insensible and foster unhealthy competition," Deputy Mayor Jašin said.

Urmas Sadam, the director of Laagna High School, which teaches in Estonian, does not believe there will be significant staff turnover.

"I don't see much risk of that. If a few go for the salary, then they go. But I know that the city also plans to continuously support schools where teaching is predominantly in Estonian and to motivate those teachers to work in the schools," Sadam explained.

The capital's budget negotiations begin on May 6, and the amount intended for the teachers' salary fund will be finalized in the second week of May.

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