Photo credit: russkie.org
After the parliamentary elections in early March, the new Estonian government reiterated the commitment of the previous government to expel the Russian language completely from kindergartens and schools of national minorities. Any objections on the part of the Russian-speaking community, which makes up more than one-fourth of the country's population, have been ignored. Read more in this article by Izvestia.
"We will not abandon our goal"
On April 17, Estonian President Alar Karis officially approved the new government of the country under Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. It was formed through the coalition agreement signed by the Estonian Reform Party, Estonia 200, and the Estonian Social Democratic Party. It is the third government headed by Ms. Kallas. It is obvious that the law on the elimination of Russian-language education in the country that was passed by the previous government last year will not be abandoned. Ms. Kallas was proud to say: "The previous government took the decision that no other cabinet had ever dared to take. We resolved to make a complete transition to Estonian-language education. The new coalition will continue the transition to education in Estonian." According to the Prime Minister, in 2024, the entire Estonian preschool education system, as well as the first and fourth grades in school, will be transferred to the state language. The rest of the classes will switch to Estonian language a bit later.
According to the new Minister of Education and Research Kristina Kallas (Estonia 200), as of next year, some schools will not have Russian first-grade classes, transition plans will not be adjusted, and all teachers are required to be proficient in Estonian at C1 level. "Those plans are totally cannibalistic: there is a shortage of teachers, there are no proper teaching materials, and many children will go to the first grade without any knowledge of Estonian. That is, it will be a sheer mockery of both children and teachers," said MP Aleksandr Tšaplõgin of the opposition Estonian Centre Party.
Nevertheless, the Prime Minister insists that the elimination of Russian schools cannot be abandoned. "This reform is costly, yet it is directly linked to our security," says Kaja Kallas. The Prime Minister repeatedly stresses that the presence of a large Russian community in Estonia threatens the very fundamentals of the state. If Estonians are to feel safe, there should be no Russian community, thus, its members must be assimilated. This task has been assigned to schools.
“They won't leave children in peace”
According to Mr. Tšaplõgin, teachers from Russian schools who are in a very complicated situation today have started asking him for advice. They need to prepare urgently for the Estonian C-level exam, which means attending language courses. "There are two problems in this case. First, such a course's cost is equal to a teacher's entire salary. Secondly, they simply do not have time for this," stated the politician. He came up with a proposal to organize courses for teachers at their workplaces and pay for them from the budget.
While some teachers struggle to master Estonian, others are preparing to resign. Alexei Shlendukhov, a school teacher from Kolkja (on the western shore of Lake Peipsi (Chudskoye)), pointed out that during the times of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, Estonians were tenacious of their native language. There is a reason for that. "Language is a part of national identity, it's among the most important parts. It amuses me when I hear: "If you come to France, you won't look for schools teaching in Russian. Well, there aren't any! They haven't been there historically! Meanwhile, Russian schools have nearly a century-long history here. They existed and ranged from elementary to upper secondary level back in the pre-war Republic of Estonia. That's despite the fact that the Russian-speaking community was only four or five percent of the population," he said.
He added that he could teach in Estonian but would not do so. "I don't want to participate in this absurdist theater," the teacher said. "I failed to understand why a person with a standpoint would choose to leave the system. Or rather, I do understand but it feels a hundred times more disappointing. Such a person will be replaced by a 'teacher' with a sewage pipe cleaner's diploma who will teach the correct history in the correct language," Eino Ingerman, a publicist, commented on Mr. Shlendukhov's words. "They won't leave the children in peace because they're the nationalists' major asset. And there are no others in Estonia," summed up Alisa Blintsova, a human rights activist and representative of the nonprofit organization Russian School of Estonia.
Having abandoned their hopes of obtaining justice from the Estonian state, parents of Russian children seek it in international organizations. At the beginning of April, the UN Human Rights Committee registered a statement by Marina Saaremägi, a member of the board of trustees of a Russian school in the Tallinn neighborhood of Tõnismäe. According to Ms. Saaremägi, being a mother, she cannot tolerate her children being abused by the state. "Estonian should be studied during Estonian language lessons, not during biology and geography lessons. I finished school with the Russian language of instruction but I speak Estonian fluently," Marina Saaremägi pointed out. Mstislav Rusakov, a human rights lawyer and chairman of the board of Russian School of Estonia, added: "The European Court of Human Rights is overly biased. Let's hope that the UN Human Rights Committee will be more objective about this case.”
Useless attempts to draw attention
Mayor of Tallinn Mihhail Kõlvart (Estonian Centre Party) said: "If you stand up for Russian schools and the Russian language, you turn to an enemy in no time." Mr. Kõlvart does not expect any positive results from the liquidation of Russian schools. "It's simply going to be a catastrophe that will last for several years. It will be faced by both Russian and Estonian schools. There will be a shortage of teachers. There's simply no way to get them," warns the mayor.
In the meantime, the Russian School of Estonia has been trying to bring the situation to the attention of international organizations. Last November, activists from the Russian School of Estonia had a meeting with OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Kairat Abdrakhmanov. "During the meeting, representatives of the Russian School of Estonia informed the High Commissioner of the government's plans for the complete Estonization of Russian schools and kindergartens in Estonia, as well as the negative consequences of such an unreasonable decision," the organization reported.
Photo credit: pxhere.com (CC0 Всеобщее достояние)###https://pxhere.com/ru/photo/1130079
The activists shared that the Commissioner had promised to "take note" of the information received. Yet, it seems there was no actual use of this meeting. However, the Estonian press, serving the interests of the ruling circles, became very active.
Maksim Reva, a political scientist who had emigrated from Estonia to Russia several years ago, told Izvestia that the liquidation of Russian educational institutions was more important for the current ruling coalition in Tallinn than interethnic peace in the country. "If the best happened, this would be a profanation of the "school reform". Russian teachers would continue to teach Russian children in their shared mother tongue doing it covertly and fearing the slightest rustle. Estonia has such a "marvelous" institution as the Language Department, its task is just to identify and penalize these kinds of "villains" who do not use the state language in the performance of their official duties. They can impose a fine, or they can have the "offender" dismissed. One does not need to be as wise as Solomon to predict the near future. The language inspectors will focus their efforts on the schools of national minorities. Once the "reform" is in effect, it would be hard to describe anything happening there other than sheer mockery of children. However, according to the ruling coalition, the effort is worth the cost. Russian children who have lost the possibility of learning in their native language may end up working as janitors and freight handlers. Furthermore, partly assimilated under-educated residents will never be able to defend their rights effectively," Mr. Reva summarized.
Source in Russian
