"We are awaiting the government's decision. On Thursday, [July 25], the government will hold a meeting to make a decision regarding the regulation, which will determine whether teachers with a B1 level of language proficiency can continue working. If such a decision is made, we would need to terminate the employment of only 80 teachers in Tallinn starting August 1. This is actually a very encouraging number," Jašin told ERR on Wednesday.

According to him, this would mean about four teachers per a transitioning school.

"This is certainly a challenge and a difficult situation, but it's much better than having to dismiss everyone with only a B1 level, which would amount to 200 teachers. That would represent about 6-7 percent of all teachers in Tallinn, and I would worry if that would even be feasible," he added during an interview with Vikerraadio.

Regarding the transition school teachers who are required to teach in Estonian and need to have a C1 level of proficiency, Jašin noted that there is a shortage of 40 teachers across 20 schools – 15 for first grades and 25 for fourth grades, which already require some subject teachers.

"In reality, this is a typical situation where the city of Tallinn annually seeks about 200 educational staff across various institutions before the start of the school year. There is a natural turnover, and these numbers are quite usual, so we are confident in this regard," he added.

Jašin mentioned that this year, the number of teachers being sought is almost twice as high due to language requirements, but there is also an increasing number of teachers graduating from universities thanks to state orders, and salary measures along with the city's recruitment campaign are expected to help with finding new teachers.

"I can't guarantee that in all these transition schools, where teachers are expected to continue or could continue teaching in Russian for the time being, every class will have teachers. In some schools, there might be a situation where temporary arrangements are needed for a while, perhaps half a year or longer, with substitute teachers working more hours and receiving somewhat higher pay," he said. Jašin noted that such a situation might arise in less than half of the transitioning schools.

The deputy mayor emphasized that even if the government extends the opportunity for teachers with a B1 level to continue working, those with a lower proficiency in Estonian would not be able to continue.

"This is not a recommendation; it is a specific guideline, and the guideline is to act exactly as the law requires. And if this Thursday, or tomorrow, a government regulation is issued that allows, for example, those with a B1 level to continue, then this is indeed a very reasonable and specific proposal for managing and eventually transitioning to Estonian-language education, which is very, very important to me, personally, my top priority. But the guideline remains that we do not continue with anyone who does not have at least a B1 level," he said.

"But I can say that the city of Tallinn will cope with this situation," Jašin assured.

The deputy mayor also spoke about how the city government plans to use the additional €7 million allocated to facilitate the transition.

"Of the €7 million, €4 million will go to the salary differentiation fund for all general education schools in Tallinn, where principals can decide whose salaries to hike and how to go about it. And €3 million will be allocated based on the number of non-native students, with transitioning schools receiving somewhat more – we are talking about amounts of a few tens of thousands or up to €100,000, not overly large sums. But this also affects Estonian-language educational institutions, which have more and more non-native students, which was very important to me because we know that there are a number of Estonian schools that need the same additional support, additional salary funds, to manage situations and offer extra Estonian language teaching to non-native students," he explained.

Jašin emphasized that they are trying to distribute the support as evenly as possible with Estonian-language educational institutions to avoid creating inequality and a situation where teachers are lured from one school to another within the municipality by offering higher salaries at transition schools.

"The goal of the city government and our entire educational landscape is to bring more people into education, not to create a situation where we poach teachers from one school or another, but to create a competitive working environment in all schools in Tallinn," Jašin stressed.

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