Estonia to increase language instruction for refugees starting next year
Estonia has decided to increase the capacity of a free program to teach the Estonian language to refugees from the current 100 hours to 300 hours of instruction beginning in 2018.
Kaisa Üprus-Tali, adviser for Social Policy at the Ministry of Social Affairs, told BNS that while it was initially believed that 100 hours of language instruction was sufficient for achieving an A2 level of proficiency in the language, it became clear that the instruction capacity needed to be increased.
A call for proposals was held to find the party to provide language instruction to refugees in 2018. The call attracted one proposal, the evaluation of which is to be completed by the end of November.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, the size of the call for proposals is €400,000, which consists of 300 hours of language instruction for 150 individuals, developing the methodology, drawing up study materials as well as expenses for transport and child care services.
If 150 people take part in the program, the cost per person will be €2,666.67 for the 300-hour program. In the previous call for proposals, the cost was €1,333.33 per participant in a 100-hour program.
The language study program is available to all beneficiaries of international protection, regardless of whether they arrived in Estonia as migrants or under the EU migrant distribution plan.
Editor: Aili Vahtla
Source: BNS
