However, the state has left several things undone on its part, such as a monitoring system for the quality of the transition, Ossinovski said.

There are 20 such transition schools in Tallinn.

Ossinovski, after meeting with the heads of these schools: "On the plus side, all the school chiefs acknowledged that the school year went better than we had feared. Of course, principals and teachers did a great deal of work, but the city government also, as one of its first decisions, immediately directed additional funds to the Estonian-language transition support program, to hire teachers both in kindergartens and schools, and that has certainly exerted a positive impact."

This doesn't mean there haven't been issues.

"Naturally, there are many worries, and these mainly affect the fourth grades, where the children's level of Estonian is low, and this leads to accumulating issues in both academic success and mental health. A problem is also that not all teachers have withstood the pressure and have left during the school year," the mayor went on.

At the same time, Ossinovski conceded that the current education reform does not resolve the problem of educational segregation, by language.

"Educational segregation is the core of Estonia's integration problems, and I've been saying for nearly 10 years that we need to move towards a unified Estonian school, where Estonian- and Russian-speaking children study together. That has also been my biggest criticism of this reform—that it doesn't actually solve that issue. If nothing changes, over time we'll end up with two school systems: Estonian-language schools for Estonians, and Estonian-language schools for Russians—and that is neither sensible nor appropriate. Therefore, we must move toward a unified school," Ossinovski said.

Tallinn also plans to take concrete steps in this direction, he said.

For instance, children whose native language is Estonian will not be assigned to any transition schools. "I think that's perfectly reasonable. We did a small experiment to encourage this voluntarily, creating Estonian-language classes in some Russian-language schools where Estonian-speaking children were also welcomed, but the interest was modest, which in itself is not surprising," Ossinovski said of this.

Conversely, more and more children from Russian-speaking families in Tallinn are choosing Estonian-language schools, he said.

Ossinovski stated that the state failed to systematically prepare for the education reform, particularly in providing suitable teaching materials. As a result, Tallinn has stepped in to develop specialized learning materials for the upcoming academic year.

The mayor also noted that Estonia has launched one of the largest and most important education reforms in its post-independence history, yet the state has not created a unified system for monitoring the quality of teaching, something he called "a grotesque situation."

"It is said, let the school operators handle it. In Tallinn we are really trying to create our own system, knowing that not all municipalities will be able to do this," Ossinovski went on.

The switch to Estonian began with all preschools and the first and fourth grades in general education schools.

On December 12, 2022, the Riigikogu passed the Estonian-language education transition law, launching a gradual shift from Russian to Estonian instruction, to start in September 2023 and to be completed by 2030.

The switch to Estonian-only education across Estonia is a long-held policy of several political parties in Estonia, including Reform. The changed security situation brought the issue even more under the spotlight. Tallinn and Ida-Viru County are home to the largest Russian-speaking communities.

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