The transition to Estonian-language education in several large Estonian cities could be stalled for years to come, should Estonian citizens continue to be in the minority among the council’s voters, as has been the case for more than a quarter of a century , Erik Gamzejev says in Vikerraadio’s daily commentary.
It is known that the Italian strike is a way of striking such that work is not interrupted, but is done apparently and slowly. In this way, for example, the city authorities of Narva and Kohtla-Järve, as local school administrators, have for decades tried to give the impression that they consider knowledge of the Estonian language important and are working hard to ensure that the country’s schools Estonian.
The current situation is that most primary school graduates in these cities do not master the Estonian language in nine years to a level that would allow them to study Estonian in high schools or vocational schools. What’s worse is that, over the decades, a large number of teachers still working in these schools have not learned the Estonian language to the required level.
Now that the central government has solidified the transition to Estonian language education after several decades of momentum, and Education Minister Kristina Kallas confirms that there is no reason to expect a delay to the set deadlines, there are objections that it is too early and too sudden, and where teachers will be recruited from. The state is criticized for not creating job reserves for teachers, for not printing enough good textbooks, and so on.
At the same time, these city authorities forget that, as school leaders, they themselves had to deal with appointing competent and motivated people to successfully transition schools to Estonian language education.
Mare Roosileht, director of the Virumaa College of the Tallinn University of Technology, and Hendrik Agur, director of the Kohtla-Järve state high school, who are part of the Kohtla-Järve council, wrote last week on the north coast that in some of the Kohtla -Järve In schools with Russian language of instruction, there is a very strong defense against changes and against everything in Estonian and Estonian-like language. The existing situation, habits and people who cannot or do not want to follow innovations in the transition to Estonian language education are protected. It is worth believing in Roosilehti and Agurit, because every day in their work they come into contact with the consequences of such a circular defense.
Interestingly, in Jõhvi, which is located between the Kohtla-Järve districts, the Russian-language primary school is much better prepared for the transition to Estonian-language education. This is the good work of the management of this school, but also the result of the attitude and attitude created by the Jõhvi authorities.
Why is the situation different in neighboring municipalities? An important factor is that in Jõhvi the percentage of Estonian citizens in local elections is slightly higher than in Kohtla-Järve. Estonian citizens have elected more such deputies to the Jõhvi council, for most of whom education in the Estonian language is a matter of principle.
In Kohtla-Järve, as well as in Narva and Sillamäe, Russian citizens and non-citizens have had a clear preponderance of voters in local elections since 1996. Since then, the Central Party or electoral alliances strongly linked to it have mostly achieved decisive victories in local elections in these cities, with one of the main promises being the preservation of Russian-language education. They kept this promise by organizing a hypocritical Italian strike during the transition to Estonian language education.
“This is also one of the reasons why the level of unemployment and the general poverty rate in Ida-Virumaa have been higher than elsewhere in Estonia for decades.”
Since the votes came in, they have not worried that they have done a disservice to many local young people, who will therefore have more difficulty coping with life in the future. This is also one of the reasons why the level of unemployment and the general poverty rate in Ida-Virumaa have been higher than elsewhere in Estonia for decades.
If Estonian citizens are in the minority among voters in local elections, they are not the ones who decide the main issues of the elections. This is done by Russian citizens and non-citizens. Political parties and electoral alliances that want to come to power take this into account and adapt. They will not organize the transition to Estonian language education with exceptional enthusiasm, because their voters do not appreciate it. It is therefore not surprising that councils vote for their representatives on the school board, who themselves do not even speak Estonian, as happened again at the end of the year in Kohtla-Järve.
The Center Party and the Social Democrats, who have formed a coalition both in the capital and in Kohtla-Järve, and both confirm their position in favor of a better Estonia, could invite other political parties to a common table to discuss how to make it so. that only Estonian citizens will be able to participate in the next local elections. Maybe not citizens, but still not Russian citizens. This would significantly increase the influence of Estonian citizens’ votes in local elections.
This would be a great pro-Estonia act, which would also probably increase support from both political parties. Probably the other parliamentary parties, who have already wanted it in the past, would also willingly join the initiative. If such an agreement were to be reached jointly by the main political parties, it would not create the feared tensions in society.
Non-citizens and Russian citizens living in Estonia have had time for more than a quarter of a century to decide which country they want to be loyal to as citizens. For a long time, Estonia has kindly offered third-country nationals the privilege of voting in local elections. Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, France and many other democratic countries did not offer this option.
If the will of Estonian citizens fails to influence the governance of several Estonian cities in the next local elections, the Italian strike will most likely continue during the transition to Estonian language education. Added to this is the confrontation between local government and central government, which for decades has been one of the brakes on the development of local life.
You can listen to all of Vikerradio’s daily commentary on the Vikerradio daily commentary page.
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2024-01-10 12:35:00
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