Tallinn deputy mayor considers legal action over education reform

Tallinn Deputy Mayor Andrei Kante said the city could seek compensation from the Ministry of Education and Research over the administrative burden created by the learning obligation reform, ERR reported. He did not rule out taking the ministry to court.

As of Monday, Tallinn had 761 young people who had completed basic school but whose next place of study was not yet known. Kante said nearly 600 students may require individual support.

Speaking on the ETV morning programme Terevisioon, Kante said Tallinn and other local governments needed additional places in preparatory education to address the situation. He criticised the ministry for failing to hold sufficiently serious negotiations with local governments.

From September 1, all local governments will automatically begin working with young people who do not have a place to study. This will require an individual approach, with officials contacting each family and beginning a counselling process. Education department staff will make the first contact, while child protection specialists will be involved if the young person cannot be placed in a school with their help.

Kante said the administrative burden on Tallinn would be enormous. He recalled that when the reform was being planned, the ministry had said it would not increase the administrative workload of local governments.

In his view, Tallinn would need at least four or five new officials to handle the cases. He did not specify what a potential claim against the ministry would involve, but said legal action could not be ruled out.

Kante said the learning obligation reform needed to be reconsidered and redesigned. He argued that students should not be allowed to complete basic school with insufficient knowledge and that preparatory education should remain the responsibility of their current basic school, preserving the connection between the school and the student.

He also said vocational schools should share responsibility for implementing the reform, including career counselling. Tallinn is ready to open new preparatory education places, including at Tallinn Applied College, and other educational institutions have also expressed interest. However, the city needs assurance that the state will commission the additional places, Kante said.

A shortage of teachers is also limiting the creation of new places. Recruitment would need to begin immediately, but Kante said the ministry had not yet sent the necessary signal.

About 500 young people in Tallinn have typically not continued their studies after completing basic school. Kante said the reform was necessary in principle because it addressed young people leaving the education system after basic school, but added that basic schools and early intervention mechanisms needed to be strengthened.