Education in the Republic of Estonia
in Other Languages besides Estonian

Legislation of the Estonian Republic before World War II granted all ethnic minorities (Russians, Germans, Swedes, Latvians, Finns, Jews) the right to study at schools of their mother tongue instruction, where their cultural traditions were observed. Schools knew no ethnic strife. Ethnic Russians in Russian-language schools constituted eight per cent of the overall number of students. That corresponded roughly to the ratio of the Russian minority to the Estonian population at that time (cf. Fig. 1).

Figure 1

The language of instruction in Estonian schools from 1936 to 1938

In the lifetime of but one generation the number of students in Russian schools has increased to 35%, not including the traditional Russian minority areas in Eastern Estonia that have been incorporated into the Russian Federation since the beginning of the occupation. The schools of all other ethnic minorities are gone. Such changes in the demographic balance did not result merely from the politically motivated influx of new immigrants from all over the Soviet Union, but also from the extermination of Estonians and other ethnic minorities, from restricting Estonians' access to a number of towns and from other similar Stalinist means (cf. Fig.2). During the Soviet period, Russian schools in Estonia followed All-Union curricula, thus consciously ignoring Estonian culture. The children from migrant families grew up virtually without knowledge of the Estonian language and were isolated from the Estonian community.

Figure 2

This is the background to administrating education Estonia is facing today. The whole school system, infused with Sovietism, is undergoing reform. The schools with Russian-language instruction face an additional task of integrating other language speakers into the Estonian society. The Law on Basic and Secondary School, approved in September 1993, foresees the transfer to Estonian-language instruction in all state and municipal gymnasiums by the year 2000. The basic Russian-language schools must give their students sufficient knowledge of Estonian for that purpose.

The Law on Cultural Autonomy of Ethnic Minorities, also approved in 1993, grants all minority groups the right to establish private schools, including gymnasiums, with their own language of instruction and additional instruction in cultural heritage. Today, all parents in the Republic of Estonia have the right and opportunity to choose between Estonian and Russian schools. Instruction in other languages has not started yet.

When Estonia became independent again, it established the same length 12 years - for Estonian and Russian secondary education. During the years of occupation the Russian children attended school for 10 years; the Estonians a year longer. The extra year allowed for a thorough course in Russian. The Russian schools, however, often had no Estonian language instruction. In this respect the system has been balanced.

As for providing Russian schools wit h teaching materials, three options are to be made available:

• original Estonian text-books;
• text-books compiled jointly by Estonian and Russian authors;
• textbooks published in Russia or their Estonian reprints.

Today, after completing compulsory education in Russian, young people can continue their studies in Russian-language vocational or secondary schools. Similarly, those who learned in Estonian can attend Estonian-language vocational and secondary schools.

Up till now, vocational and secondary schools are mainly state-owned, although it is possible to open private ones.

Both Estonians and Russians have an equal opportunity to study at institutions of higher education. The entrance examination system is the same for everyone. No noticeable ethnic differences can be observed in the results of entrance examinations. In 1992/93 the Estonians' percentage of success was the same as that of the Russians. A little more than half of all applicants were admitted into higher educational establishments. Instruction is possible in either language. 18.8% of the students studied in Russian groups in the 1992/93 academic year.
The partially implemented plans to reform higher education are based on the assumption that the students' language proficiency enables them to choose classes and carry out practical assignments dictated by their needs, not their mother tongue. The number of visiting professors in Estonian higher education is increasing and in addition to Estonian and Russian, one can attend classes, for example, in German or English. The problem of the students' different mother tongue in Estonia is gradually reduced to the question of the language in which a class is conducted. It must also be pointed out that Russians and other Russian-speaking ethnic groups have considerably more choices for higher education than Estonians as they can study in their mother tongue in higher educational establishments all over Russia, as well as in other CIS countries. Nevertheless, several new, primarily Russian-language institutions have opened recently in Estonia. The college in Narva is for Russian 9-year elementary school teachers in the field of humanities. The Virumaa college is for science teachers.

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