Estonian Education Minister Kristina Kallas ended her graduation speech at Kohtla‑Järve State High School in Ida-Viru county with words in Russian, which really surprised the school staff, writes ERR News.
Kohtla-Järve State High School has been operating exclusively in Estonian since its start. After the minister addressed the gathering in Estonian, she thanked the parents in Russian as well. Liisi Laanemets, the school’s Estonian language and literature teacher, said it was such a shocking moment that she doesn’t even remember the content of the speech. She told ERR that the school is not in the process of transitioning from a bilingual educational institution, and the teaching process has always taken place in Estonian, so it is particularly unclear why it was necessary to speak in Russian. The teacher added that the end of the speech in Russian surprised the entire school community and raises questions about the message such an action sends.
Kallas explained that the speech was in Estonian, and she added only two sentences in Russian to thank parents and grandparents who helped her children learn the state language. She said that the transition to Estonian-language education was a decision that had been delayed for more than 30 years, but that the current government was finally implementing it: “I believe it is right to acknowledge the families who have supported this change and helped ensure that Estonian education is unified and Estonian‑language.”
Former Education Minister Tõnis Lukas said that
the minister’s decision to speak in Russian was surprising, especially at Kohtla-Järve State High School,
which has always been a school with one educational language. He added that before and after the ceremony, the minister can speak to acquaintances in any language she wants, but the official address in the current situation and even more so in the specific region must be in Estonian.
Laanemets said that the mayor of Kohtla-Järve also spoke in Russian, but that was expected and did not surprise anyone.
Estonia is currently in a transition period to education only in the state language, but this has caused difficulties in some places, especially in the Ida-Viru county. For example, in February, the director of the Ida-Viru Vocational Education Center, Hendrik Agur, said that the school had temporarily suspended vocational training in order to focus on teaching Estonian. Almost a fifth of the students initially did not show up for language training, but this issue has now been resolved.
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