Refusal to teaching in Russian in Estonia schools is impossible. This was stated by the new President of Estonia Alar Caris in an interview with Estonian state portal ERR.
“I do not believe that in a Russian-speaking class with a Russian-speaking teacher from tomorrow, figuratively speaking, the day everything would be taught on Estonian,” said Caris. The head of state also criticized the idea to make only Estonian-speaking higher education.
According to him, such actions will be “some discrimination slightly”. At the same time, Caris stressed that the language still remains a significant split factor in society. He explained that in order to bring people to a single value system, you need to convey to people that the knowledge of Estonian opens up new opportunities before them.
On June 15, the Estonian Prime Minister Kaya Kallas stated that since 2035 the authorities will cease to finance Russian-speaking schools and kindergartens in the country. She noted that children will continue to visit kindergartens and schools with training in Russian, but the institutions will no longer be funded from the country’s budget or local government. State school and pre-school education will be conducted on Estonian.
The former President of the Republic of Kesert Calulide has repeatedly emphasized the need forcing the process of estonization of education. In 2019, she supported the elimination of a bilingual education system in the country, explaining its position because the teaching of the Russian language in the country’s schools “represents the threat to Estonian language and culture.”