Tomusk highlights language, culture and education in Karis speeches
Thursday 20th August 2026 on 21:00 in
Estonia
Estonian Language Board Director and children’s author Ilmar Tomusk praised President Alar Karis’s speeches for their focus on cultural vitality, young people’s courage to take risks, artificial intelligence and challenges in education, ERR reported.
Tomusk said the central theme of Karis’s speech was the generations nourished by memory, language and culture.
“Our language, our history and our culture are like air to us. This is the air we breathe, and throughout history people have tried to cut off this air from us. But they have not succeeded, and it will sustain us for the next 35 and 350 years and beyond,” Tomusk said.
He also highlighted the curiosity and willingness to take risks shown by young people, saying they had helped shape both present-day Estonia and human civilisation more broadly.
Tomusk said Karis’s comments on artificial intelligence also resonated with him. The president had stressed the need to take care of one’s “real intelligence” in order to use artificial intelligence responsibly.
“Artificial intelligence is a very powerful tool, but only in the hands of those who are wiser and stronger than artificial intelligence. We must learn and not let artificial intelligence do our homework. We can ask it for information and gather material, but we must complete our homework ourselves,” Tomusk said.
Discussing education more broadly, Tomusk said extracurricular education was often pushed into the background, despite its potentially lifelong impact. Recalling his childhood in a family of five children, he said that attending four or five interest groups had sometimes left less time for schoolwork, but had given him valuable experiences and lasting friendships.
Tomusk also strongly praised young writer Aliis Aalmann, describing her speech as “astonishingly good”. He said her remarks on problems affecting teachers and education had hit the mark.
“I am very pleased that she brought up the problems connected with teachers and education. My wife is a teacher, and there are many teachers among my acquaintances. They are all very happy about this speech,” Tomusk said.