"After all, the cuts to recreational education are directly in the budget of the Ministry of Education. Since it is in our cuts – nobody has made an exception for hobby education – the question is how much we cut. That is the final decision on the cuts," said Kallas at the government's weekly press conference.

Asked if support would fall to zero or differ by region, the minister said no final decision had been made.

"A 10 percent cut has now been added to hobby education. The extent to which this cut will eventually be made is the result of a political decision, and that is not yet clear today," she told the assembled media.

"The Ministry of Education's cuts are close to €80 million: this means we have to cut all grants quite significantly. Including salaries and labor costs. All state grammar schools, state schools, state colleges, and grants for higher education, research and development. Excluding basic funding," the minister said.

Extracurricular education is the responsibility of local governments, not the state, which is why it is included in the cuts as support that does not fall under the state's duties, Kallas said.

"We have a lot of subsidies that are the responsibility of the state, for example, higher education funding is the responsibility of the state, it is not funded by anybody else. In the calculation of the cut, we have to take all this into account: what are our responsibilities and what are the subsidies that we have paid but which are not our responsibility," she explained.

Läänemets: This is important for rural people

Minister of the Interior Lauri Läänemets (SDE) said the funding had been established to encourage children's hobby education away from country centers.

"There, hobby education is simply much more difficult to access. The groups are located further away, there are fewer of them, the fewer children there are, the more expensive it is to make these groups. This is a very important support measure regionally, for rural areas, and very important for children as well. Having once implemented it as a municipality mayor, then I can say that very important things are done with this money for children," the interior minister said at the press conference.

"If there is a cut, it makes sense to take out the part of the big cities, because it is primarily intended for sparsely populated areas, so that children have better opportunities there. If it is cut like this, I think we can reach an agreement," he added.

Municipalities against hobby education cuts

Kallas has already informed local governments of the upcoming cuts. It could be as high as €10 million this year.

"A possible cut in hobby education worries the municipalities because it leads to the need to review the current subsidies for hobby education, which in turn directly affects the opportunities of young people to participate in hobby education," Jan Trei, deputy director of the Association of Estonian Cities and Rural Municipalities (Eesti Linnade ja Valdade Liit), explained the concerns of the municipalities.

"There is also a question hanging in the air as to whether the possible cut in hobby education will be implemented from the beginning of 2025 or not. Local governments look at the financing of hobby education by academic year, and it is largely impossible to make changes halfway through the academic year," he added.

If hobby education is cut from January 2025, municipalities will need to find funding for the second half of the school year, Trei said.

The cuts are also being appealed by the Estonian Association of Youth Workers.

In the 2017–2020 state budget strategy, €15 million was set aside each year for hobby education. In 2022, this dropped to €10 million. The amount allocated is now set with each year with the budget.

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