In Estonia, penalties for schools delaying the transition to Estonian-language education have been raised to almost €10,000 - more than 10 times higher than the old fine. The Language Board (Keeleamet) has also been given the right to visit classrooms and check teachers' level of Estonian, SİA informs via ERR News.
Until now, the Language Board has been able to issue fines of no more than €640 to education workers and institutions.
But from August 1, schools caught repeatedly breaking language requirements can be fined up to €9,600, the Ministry of Education and Research has decided.
Ingar Dubolazov, head of the ministry's transition to Estonian-language studies, said the higher rate is needed so schools will feel the effect.
"Because we have seen before with the fines that have been issued to individuals have not had an effect. And this new penalty rate applies to legal persons," he said.
Mayor of Narva (the municipality is predominatly populated by ethnic Russians) Katri Raik said the increase sends a good message to city councilors, many of whom do not understand the importance of Estonian-language education.
"If, as a municipality, you have to spend €3,000 on five school principals, it's easy to find it in the budget. But if you have to find €50,000, even Narva's city councilors will start to wonder if this is a good idea," said Raik.
She said there are still people who believe the new requirements will not be implemented.
"It was difficult to make it clear to a Russian person that this transition was coming when there was no law, because the last change to the law was in 2007, and nothing had happened for 15 years. There is a lot to be said for all these soft things, but the change in the law put the issue on a different footing. But even today, there is still a lot of talk about how the power in Estonia will change - I don't know which way it will go - and it will pass," said Raik.
The Language Board's powers for assessing education workers have also been increased.
Agency workers will now be able to check what is happening in classrooms rather than only assessing teachers' level of Estonian from conversations.
"The checks so far have been rather formal. We look to see whether the teacher meets the language requirements and has passed the relevant level exams, but we don't know what he or she can do with the language in the classroom, which is the most important thing, but we know from the learning outcomes that they are not the best. We are not satisfied with the Estonian language skills of graduates from basic schools and even from upper secondary schools," said Ilmar Tomusk, director general of the Language Board.
In 2022, 211 fines were handed out to educational institutions.
There are approximately 2,500 educational workers in Estonia with insufficient knowledge of the Estonian language, the Language Board said.
The transition to Estonian-language education is set to begin in kindergartens grades 1 and 4 grades in 2024, with the aim of completing the process by 2030.
Bütün xəbərlər Facebook səhifəmizdə
.jpg)
USD
EUR
GBP
RUB
