According to the Minister of Education and Science, dozens of upper secondary schools in Estonia should be closed because there are too many of them compared to the number of students. Which of the schools’ upper secondary classes will be closed depends, among other things, on the number of students and the location of the school.
A total of 133 students study at the Peipsi high school, of which only 22 attend high school and, according to school director Riina Koolmeistri, next year the high school portion will probably be uniform. smaller, which is why the school risks closing.
“We have a relatively small municipality and we have two high schools. And two high schools with such a small number of children and in such a small municipality is not reasonable. But no decisions were made today,” Koolmeister said.
According to the Minister of Education and Science, Kristina Kallas, the transfer of students and the closure of some schools are part of the reform of the school network, with which the state takes on greater responsibility for organizing post-primary education. According to Kallas, there are currently 158 high school levels in Estonia, but in reality students are only divided into about 90.
“Those gymnasiums with 20, 30 students today are not getting bigger, but they are getting smaller and smaller. The development monitoring report told us very clearly that the biggest shortage of teachers and the need for teachers in the future is in these small gyms. We have to understand this, that we have to relocate these high school locations, so to speak, move them from these small schools to the larger state high schools,” Kallas said.
According to former Education Minister Jaak Aaviksoo, the school network must also be reduced, because it is not possible to invest enough in small schools to ensure a high-quality learning environment.
“To create a learning environment, both social and material infrastructure, we still need a few hundred, and it would be even better three or four hundred students. There is not enough for each place, but I think there is enough for in the most county centers, and there should be enough for the big cities and urban surroundings of Tallinn as well,” Aaviksoo said.
Kallas noted that there are currently high schools with fewer than a hundred students and the capitation calculation does not cover the costs of the high school, 37. Whether or not the high school closes depends on what other learning opportunities are available in a specific region .
The principal of Peipsi High School said that if the high school level were to close, children would have to start going to school further away. According to Kallas, however, the costs must not be borne by the parents, but the State must guarantee the possibility of studying.
“This means running school buses, it means the possibility of having dormitories, it also means, to a certain extent, guaranteeing school meals, if the child still has such a long journey home that it makes the day long. There are many elements that it needs to be looked at,” Kallas said.
2023-12-04 19:14:00
according-to-education-minister-kallas-dozens-of-estonian-upper-secondary-schools-should-be-closed