A day before the start of the school year, around 1,300 young people subject to compulsory education still had no school place. As of September 11, 485 basic school graduates remained without one.

Kristina Kallas said the problem, which was most acute in Tallinn, primarily affected graduates of Russian-language basic schools who accounted for more than 60 percent of those without a place.

"They couldn't even get into vocational education simply because their Estonian language skills are virtually nonexistent, despite having studied Estonian for nine years," Kallas said.

She added that such students cannot be admitted to vocational schools even if allowances are made, as vocational education includes technical subjects and students cannot participate in classes if they cannot even understand safety instructions.

Kallas said Tallinn's city government had strongly criticized the Ministry of Education over students being left without school places. While the state certainly also bears responsibility, she said Center Party-led Tallinn had defended Russian-language schools for years and insisted they should not be dismantled.

"The fact that these children don't go on to study anywhere has always been the case; until now, they have simply been out of sight. It's painful to see what actually happens to those coming out of Russian-language schools. It's hypocritical of the Center Party to suddenly be so concerned when, for all these years, it has firmly defended Russian-language schools and Russian-language instruction in them," she said.

According to the education minister, these children studied Estonian for 45 minutes every day for nine years, while nothing else at school took place in Estonian. It is also possible that explanations during Estonian lessons were given in Russian. Their exposure to Estonian was therefore virtually nonexistent.

Schools transitioning to Estonian-language education are required to administer proficiency tests in fourth grade. The average score was above 50 percent both among students who began Estonian-language instruction in 2024 and those who began last year. Kallas noted, however, that this cannot be considered a good result when only half meet A1, the most basic level of language proficiency, meaning the other half cannot even reach that level.

"This shows that children who had studied in Russian for three years and studied Estonian for three years were unable to pass an A1-level proficiency test in fourth grade. This is a real problem we face," the education minister said.

Ministry considering language exception for mathematics exam

A separate question for the ministry is what language children who switched to Estonian-language education two years ago and are now in sixth grade will use to take their basic school final mathematics exam in three years. Kallas said the options are either to allow students to choose the language of the exam or to offer it in simplified Estonian, since the aim is to assess mathematics rather than language skills.

"This is a major question for us. We're trying to discuss it with university experts and proficiency tests will begin to show us what level of Estonian the students have," Kallas said. She cited Latvia's PISA results as a cautionary example, saying they fell below the OECD average.

The reason, she said, was the Latvian government's decision to require all children to take the PISA test in Latvian, even though Russian-speaking children had been studying in Latvian for only two years.

A language proficiency assessment will also be added to the school readiness report issued at the end of kindergarten, allowing schools to see children's language proficiency when they leave kindergarten. The assessment, designed for kindergartens and first grade, is currently being piloted.

"If necessary, it will be refined, so it should be in wider use by next fall and spring," Kallas said.

Estonian-language schools to qualify for language training support

Helna Karu, head of the Ministry of Education's department overseeing the transition to Estonian-language education, said the way language-learning support is distributed has also changed. While funding was previously provided to schools where most students were native Russian speakers, many such children are now moving to Estonian-language schools, which therefore also need support.

"Local governments apply for the funding for their educational institutions and schools use it according to their most pressing needs, whether to provide additional language instruction, differentiate subject teaching in class, tailor language instruction to students' proficiency levels or organize informal activities that help develop children's language skills," Karu said.

Kallas said schools and kindergartens have also undergone major staffing changes. Just 144 teachers now fail to meet language proficiency requirements, compared with 1,802 two years ago. Nearly 10 percent of Estonia's teaching workforce has changed during the transition period.

"Teachers who have learned the language have taken up positions or teachers have been replaced," Kallas said.

Karu said the Ministry of Education is in close contact with schools and conducts many classroom observations, giving it a good overview of the situation. The most important factor is using effective teaching methods in the classroom, but that expertise develops over time.

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