Estonian President Dubs Russian Language In Schools 'Threat' To Country's Culture

Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid on Thursday lashed out at the nation's bilingual school system, which generally incorporates both Estonian- and Russian-language education, saying that such a system posed a threat to Estonian language and culture

TALLINN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th April, 2019) Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid on Thursday lashed out at the nation's bilingual school system, which generally incorporates both Estonian- and Russian-language education, saying that such a system posed a threat to Estonian language and culture.

"The continuance of the bilingual school system for an unspecified time poses a threat to the lasting of the Estonian language and culture and does not in any way increase the social cohesion of Estonia as a country. We have one official language," Kaljulaid stressed at the opening session of the Riigikogu, the unicameral parliament of Estonia.

The president noted that it was the government's responsibility to ensure that all children moving from pre-school to school were able to speak Estonian, "not to mention those who are about to finish school."

According to Kaljulaid, poor language skills attribute to the fact that the country still does not have a network of kindergartens and schools "where the language of instruction is Estonian.

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"It is no privilege to remain languageless in a country where one works, be it temporarily or permanently," she said.

Estonia has recently been cracking down on the Russian language, which is by far the most-spoken minority language in the former Soviet republic. Currently, over 300,000 Russians, out of a total population of 1.3 million, live in the country. There are also settlements with predominately Russian populations. There are currently 74 Russian schools in Estonia.

Estonian law states that Russian-language schools should have at least 60 percent of classes in Estonian and 40 percent in Russian.

Tallinn insists that one-language schools would boost the competitiveness of Russian-speaking residents. However, Russian community believes that such a full transition would result in a deterioration in the understanding of subjects, poor vocabulary and poor academic performance by Russian-speaking children.