Top Ida-Virumaa Graduates Plan to Return to Their Home Region as Teachers
President Alar Karis and Minister of Education Kristina Kallas honored top graduates from Ida-Virumaa, many of whom intend to become teachers and return to the region, which faces a severe teacher shortage.
In Tallinn's Kadriorg Rose Garden, President Alar Karis and Minister of Education and Research Kristina Kallas celebrated the best graduates from Estonian educational institutions. The invitation was extended not only for outstanding academic results but also for active public engagement or personal achievements. Among those honored were graduates from the Ida-Virumaa region.
Many of them have decided to pursue a career in pedagogy and plan to return to their home region, where the teacher shortage is particularly acute. "In the future, I want to become a math teacher. I would like to return to Ida-Virumaa and provide quality education. Based on my own experience in math, I wasn't entirely satisfied with how it was taught. Teachers changed frequently due to language categories and lack of language skills. I already have the required category, so I believe I can make a difference," said Elmira Rafiyeva, a graduate of Narva Gymnasium.
German Kabantšuk, a graduate of the University of Tartu's Narva College, also sees his career as a teacher in Ida-Virumaa. "Because I was born and raised here. I studied here and see that there is a shortage of teachers, especially qualified ones," he noted.
However, motivation remains insufficient. According to President Alar Karis, young people for whom Estonian is not their native language need to make greater efforts to build a career. "Unfortunately, that is the case today, and statistics confirm it. So it is important to learn Estonian to have equal opportunities. Estonian itself is not that difficult. But I understand that in Ida-Virumaa the environment is not very conducive to language learning because mostly Russian is spoken around. After basic school, one could take a kind of language break—study the language thoroughly for one year. In a year, a person usually masters it, and then move on to gymnasium or vocational education," Karis said in an interview with "Aktuaalne Kaamera."
