Estonia targets youths disappearing after basic school

Estonia must begin identifying and supporting young people who disappear from the education system after completing basic education, Education and Science Minister Kristina Kallas said, according to ERR.

“In previous years, one in 10 young people from each age group has been left with only basic education,” Kallas said at a press conference marking the start of the school year. “After completing basic education, they disappeared from view. That is about 1,500 children every year.”

Kallas said this failure to act had led Estonia to report more than 20,000 young adults to the European Union who were not studying or working and had only basic education.

The learning obligation reform was launched in response. It required about 1,500 additional study places to be created this year to bring young people who had previously been left out back into education.

Although 80 percent of young people had found a place by the end of the main admissions period in early July, the Education Information System still had unconfirmed details for 1,674 of them. This does not necessarily mean they lack a study place, Kallas said, because not all accepted students had been entered into the system.

The final situation will become clear on September 10, when schools’ lists are closed. The government will then know how many young people have not been accepted anywhere and why they are not continuing their studies.

Language barriers add to the problem

Kallas said a significant share of the young people were from Ukrainian war refugee backgrounds. Some had not learned enough Estonian to continue their education, while others had left Estonia for the summer. It was not yet known how many would return and continue studying in Estonia.

Graduates of Russian-language basic schools were another major risk group, the minister said. Their large share among young people without a confirmed place showed that Estonia continued to have a problem with a segregated school system, she said.

The Education Ministry has worked with local governments and vocational schools to direct young people facing language barriers into applied education, where they can learn the state language alongside a profession.

Kallas also highlighted a broad vocational education reform that opened 32 new four-year applied upper secondary curricula this academic year. They received more than 3,600 applications.