Nine Schools to Be Closed in Estonia

Since the number of pupils keeps decreasing, nine Estonian schools will stop their activities after the end of the school year.

The decision involves three institutes in Tallinn as well as six other schools in Estonia while at the same time two high schools will be merged to allow the State to save resources on the field of education.

One year ago, other four schools had to face the same destiny and, although local education officials say that some enlivenment can be noted in reorganizing the schools network, most municipalities are still waiting for the new schools law to be approved by the Riigikogu first.

The process of reorganizing the institutes comes from the chronic decrease in the number of students enrolled in school since the number of pupils in general education schools has fallen by 5,000–6,000 a year in the recent years. This year, there are 149,641 pupils while last year there were 154,481 and in 2000, 218,555.

At the moment there are still 559 general schools still operating in Estonia: 20% than ten years ago when the 685 institute existing at the time gave desks (and, hopefully, knowledge) to one third more students than nowadays.