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Just one vote saved Russian-language education in Estonia

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Just one vote saved Russian-language education in Estonia


05.12.2018

Photo:  riigikogu.ee/Erik Peinar

Only one vote saved Russian-speaking education in Estonia from being wiped out, Sputnik reports. Today the parliament of the country reviewed a draft bill, according to which all primary and secondary Russian-speaking schools have start switch to Estonian. The bill was prepared by Estonia’s Reform Party.

The parliament needed 51 votes to pass the bill. Out of 67 deputies, 50 voted in its support and the document did not pass the first reading.

The Reform Party’s leader and former Minister of Education Jürgen Ligi named Estonian education the most important issue in the internal policy of the country.  At the same time the politician affirms with no doubt that the Russian-speaking population of the Baltic republic agrees with the transfer of education to the state language.

Estonian politicians traditionally raise the question of the Russian language’s position in the education system during every election campaign. Most political forces want to reduce the range of its usage, especially in the field of education. This tendency has already affected higher education, as Russian lost its status of the main language of teaching in state universities and Russian-speaking gymnasiums, where the majority of subjects are now taught in Estonian.

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