Most of the schools in Estonia where Russian has, until recently, been the main language of instruction, still do not equip children with sufficient Estonian language skills, Minister of Education and Research Kristina Kallas (Eesti 200) said on Thursday.
The issue of Russian-speaking school graduates having poor Estonian language skills has once again found itself being discussed prominently in the Estonian media in recent weeks.
Unfortunately, even after 30 years, the issue still needs to be addressed, as the situation has not improved significantly when compared to ten, 15, or 20 years ago, Minister of Education Kristina Kallas (Eesti 200) said at a government press conference on Thursday.
Kallas explained that, according to the results of the spring 2025 basic school final exams in Estonian as a second language, in only four of Estonia’s 60 schools where Russian was the main medium of instruction, were 80 percent or more students able to achieve B1 level.
In only one of those basic schools, were all graduates able to attain B1-level Estonian.
Read more: ERR.EE
