Estonia offers schools grants to teach regional dialects

Estonia’s Ministry of Education and Research is encouraging schools to teach regional dialects by offering municipalities grants that can include salary supplements for teachers, ERR reports.

Children are hearing dialects at home less often, leaving schools with a greater role in introducing them to local culture, including through language lessons.

“This new measure creates resources for teachers to prepare dialect-language lessons,” said Kätlin Kõverik, an adviser in the ministry’s language policy department. She said the broader aim was to bring more dialect lessons into the education system, including kindergartens.

Municipalities can apply for a salary supplement of up to 20 percent for a full-time teacher who teaches a regional dialect. They can also apply for operational support.

In Võrumaa, the measure is expected to encourage more educational institutions to teach Võru language. Ivari Padar, director of the Võru Institute, said some schools had traditionally supported Võru-language teaching, while others were now joining them.

“This is a very positive boost for continuing to teach the language and culture,” Padar said.

The support could also strengthen dialect teaching at schools where it is already part of regular instruction. Pille Liblik, director of schools in Setomaa municipality, said the municipality could apply for both types of support because it had teachers who taught the local language and planned trips introducing students to the local language and culture.

The application round for the grants will open next week.