Tarmo Loodus, director of the Viljandi kutseõppekeskus vocational school, which mainly contributes to daytime vocational education and also the training of people with special needs, said that the school's owner, i.e. the state, has not increased the school's funding since 2020, meaning it has existed in austerity mode since then.

"We are a school where a lot of those who go to school every day are taught well, and since the current funding model in the country favors distance learning, we are really in trouble. We are the kind of school where there is a relatively high number of students with special needs," Loodus said.

"But the main reason is probably that the same funding model for our school, for example, allocated €130,000 less for managing the school this year than it did with the same number of students than in 2020," he went on.

This means cuts and redundancies lie ahead, he went on.

"Today, with a budget of three million, we have the obligation to save half a million, which means that we will reduce admissions, reduce the volume of teaching. We will certainly have more layoffs."

"Viljandi kutseõppekeskus is likely not continue with 700, 800 students this fall, and if this funding model continues, then the trend towards a further fall," Loodus added.

Vocational education should be financed according to the same model as is used in general education schools, i.e. based on the curriculum he added.

The Ministry of Education and Research for its part has pledged to change the financing model of vocational schools by the end of the year, and there are also plans to end unnecessary duplication of specialties.

Triin Laasi-Õige, head of vocational education reform at the ministry, said that the financing of vocational education in Estonia must be rethought.

A clear division of responsibilities between schools must also be developed to avoid unnecessary duplication of disciplines, she added.-

Laasi-Õige said that some specialties are taught in 15 or 16 schools in Estonia today, but this figure could be reduced to eight to 10 schools, while ensuring Estonia is covered regionally.

"To teach infrastructure-rich specialties in a scattered manner with very small study groups, there is no profitability here, and this is also where the failure of schools starts to seed," she added.

"We have pledged to develop a new funding model by the end of this calendar year. In the last two weeks, we have met with essentially all the major specialties in Estonia and with employers' unions to negotiate with them a possible plan for teaching specialties. Then in May we will now discuss it with schools as well," the ministry spokesperson went on.

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