Education Minister Kristina Kallas spoke in Russian at Kohtla-Järve state school

Education Minister Kristina Kallas delivered part of her speech in Russian at the Kohtla-Järve state gymnasium graduation ceremony, addressing the parents in that language. This surprised the school's teachers, as it is an Estonian-language school where instruction takes place entirely in Estonian. ERR was unable to obtain a comment from the minister.

At the graduation ceremony at Kohtla-Järve state gymnasium, Education Minister Kristina Kallas delivered part of her speech in Russian, addressing the parents in that language. This caused concern and bewilderment among the school's teachers, according to ERR.

"It was so shocking that I no longer remember the content of the speech that precisely," said Liisi Laanemets, Estonian language and literature teacher at Kohtla-Järve state gymnasium, to ERR.

Teachers ask: why Russian?

According to Laanemets, this situation raised a question among the school staff about what signal the minister intended to send with such behaviour. "We have a purely Estonian-language school, it is not a transition school, so why should the minister speak Russian?" she added.

The teacher noted that the mayor of Kohtla-Järve, Maks Kaur from the Centre Party, also spoke in Russian at the ceremony, but this surprised no one and received an understanding reception.

Kohtla-Järve state gymnasium was established in 2018 by order of the education and science minister and is one of the schools in Ida-Virumaa where instruction takes place entirely in Estonian.

Transition to Estonian-language education is underway

Estonia's education system is currently undergoing a comprehensive transition to Estonian-language instruction, which has caused the most problems precisely in Ida-Virumaa. In February 2025, director Hendrik Agur of Ida-Virumaa vocational education centre announced that due to the high language barrier, vocational training had to be suspended and all attention directed to Estonian language instruction. This was followed by another setback: almost a fifth of the school's students simply did not show up for language courses.

ERR was unable to obtain a comment from the minister.