Kallas: Estonia must finally address teens who fall out of education after basic school

Estonian Minister of Education and Research Kristina Kallas said at a press conference ahead of the new school year that the compulsory education reform has brought renewed attention to teenagers who stop studying after completing basic school.

According to Kallas, in previous years roughly one in ten teenagers — about 1,500 young people annually — vanished from the education system's radar after finishing basic school. Given that around 15,000 children are born in Estonia each year, this figure is significant. This inaction led Estonia to report to the European Union more than 20,000 young people who are neither studying nor working and hold only basic education — a level insufficient to remain active in the labour market. This is precisely why the compulsory education reform was launched, requiring the creation of about 1,500 additional study places.

Picture still unclear

Although 80% of young people had already found a place to continue studying by early July, Estonia's Education Information System (EHIS) still lacks confirmed data for 1,674 young people. Kallas stressed she cannot yet claim all of them are without a study place, since admissions to various institutions are still ongoing and not all data has been entered into the system. A final picture will emerge on September 10, once student lists are finalized.

The minister noted that this year, for the first time, the state will seriously address these children — determining why they are not continuing their education and finding ways to help them do so.

Refugees and the language barrier

Kallas said a significant portion of young people without a confirmed study place are Ukrainian war refugees who lack sufficient Estonian language skills to continue studying, or who left Estonia for the summer, with it unclear whether they will return. She also noted a high share of graduates from Russian-language basic schools among this group, which she said again points to a problem with Estonia's divided school system — such graduates often do not get the opportunity to continue their education within the Estonian-language system.

To address the issue, the Ministry of Education is cooperating with local governments and vocational schools, offering applied training to young people facing language barriers so they can improve their Estonian while learning a profession. Kallas also mentioned a broader vocational education reform, under which 32 new four-year applied secondary education programmes opened this school year, drawing more than 3,600 applications.