Twenty Estonian schools to shut down

TALLINN - While Estonia's budding prosperity might evoke images of lively, packed classrooms and playgrounds, in fact, there just aren't enough children to keep some of the nation's schools running anymore.

Local governments announced last week that 20 public schools would be closing this fall.

Though Estonia's birth rate saw a small increase this past year, the rate had been slipping for 11 straight years. That the education system is feeling the effects is unavoidable.

Of the schools to be shut down 18 are elementary schools, one a secondary school and one high school. They are predominately located in southern Estonia, namely Tartu, Polva, Voru, Parnu and Viljandi counties. Only one is in Tallinn - the Tallinn Night School No.8. The schools all had between three and 30 students.

"One had no pupils," said Kalmar Kurs, counselor to the Ministry of Education.

Several schools are also undergoing reorganization and consolidation. Seven primary schools are switching to secondary schools and 15 schools are merging to become seven.

The trend began in 1997, according to the Ministry of Education's director of general education, Epp Rebane. That year, 12 schools were closed and every year since has seen similar developments. There are 215,836 children registered for school this fall, nearly 5,000 fewer than last year. Kindergarten-age children are also over-represented, numbering 2,000 fewer than 1999's enrollment.

"The only thing I can suggest is that people make more children," joked Education Minister Tonis Lukase, in an interview with newspaper Postimees.

Dwindling numbers of children, however, are expected to continue, said Rebane. By 2008, the Ministry of Education projects the number of children in schools will only be 60 percent of the present figure.

Eda Tagamets, spokeswoman for the Tartu county government, said the long-term effect for the outlying regions of Estonia is hard to predict. Come 2008, she said, "we won't know how many schools will be left."

Local governments, which cover approximately half of the yearly 10,000 kroon ($606) price tag for educating each Estonian pupil, decide independently of the state, which pays the other half, whether to close down the schools in its district.

"It is probably one of the most difficult decisions a local government has to make," Rebane said.

The individual counties bear the responsibility of determining how they will reorganize their schools and how to organize transportation for the children, said Kurs.

Not only will the closings affect children left in remote areas, teachers and other school employees must also face either commuting to a position in a school further away or moving out of the area altogether.

Tagamets said the local governments do not transfer the teachers to different jobs or provide for retraining costs for another job. Six teachers lost their positions in Tartu's three closing schools, she said. Each will simply have to fend for himself.

Rebane reminded, however, that finding a new teaching job should be relatively easy.

"There is still a lack of qualified teachers in Estonia, and 17 percent of them are over the age of retirement," she said.