The state's response so far has been to say it wants more students to attend vocational school.

Tartu Deputy Mayor Lemmit Kaplinski (SDE) said the city government has made efforts to create as many high school (Gümnaasium) places as possible, though since people also come to study in Tartu from elsewhere, more support is expected from the ministry.

Ülle Matsin, head of the general education policy department at the Ministry of Education and Research, said that while the ministry understands the concerns of parents, the state's goal is to guide more young people toward choosing vocational secondary education (Kutsekool) as an alternative to high school.

Competition in Tartu is particularly intense given that over a third of all applicants for high school places come from outside the city, not only from nearby municipalities, but even from Tallinn and other parts of the country – such students often live in dormitories or have other accommodation arrangements, given they are away from home for the first time.

The intense competition, critics say, affects the well-being of junior high school (Põhikool) graduates wanting to progress to the non-mandatory high school. "A once cheerful youth has become a wreck," "so tense and stressed," "burned out, extremely tired and unhappy" are just some of the phrases family members and youth workers used when telling ERR about the situation.

Psychologist Feelika Piir, who counsels young people in Tartu, identified a growth in fear and anxiety, from as early as seventh or eighth grade.

Piir said: "I feel that our education system is very strong, very high-level. We expect a lot from our young people and they are feeling that too — they know it's very important. I've heard a lot of anxiety, depression, and even suicidal thoughts here in my office from young people, especially when the disappointment comes. Parents have also come and shared that their child has become exactly that wreck — very crushed by having pinned all their dreams on a school they wanted to go to, having worked hard and done their best."

One Tartu resident Edite Supe, published an open letter on social media addressed to both Tartu high schools and the Ministry of Education, as a consequence of her daughter's experiences.

"My daughter studied for weeks and got very good results on the state exams, but out of the five schools she applied to, only one invited her to an interview. Children are being pressured, scared, and experience enormous stress. The system absolutely does not support young people, because high school education should not be for the elite," Supe wrote.

"Many children suffer from depression, anxiety, and insomnia. This is not supportive education; this is a system that creates fear," she went on.
Supe's letter had at the time of writing garnered over a hundred comments from others sharing similar experiences.

Student Heliis Tobber shared her experience of applying to high school last spring.

She said: "It was a very stressful time for me. When I found out I was accepted to study at a Tartu high school, I was very proud of myself and very, very grateful to have obtained a place. But when I heard from friends that they didn't get in, the question arose — where are they supposed to go?"

The shortage of high school places in Tartu has been a topic of discussion for years now.

This year, Estonia's second city has 1,445 basic school graduates — up by one hundred on the previous five years, with the figure set to rise even more next year.

Meanwhile the city has about 1,200 high school places, plus 800 vocational education places, for basic school graduates, even before high school students coming from other parts of the country are factored in.

The mandatory basic school education runs from age seven, starting with Algkool, to 16 and the end of junior high, with those choosing to go on to high school or vocational school remaining in secondary education until age 19.

In recent years the state has built several high schools to alleviate pressure on local municipalities, who run the majority of the schools in Estonia.

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