Estonia to launch national youth fitness monitoring system in schools by 2028

Estonia will not systematically test youth physical fitness in the near term, with a national monitoring system projected to launch in 2028 at the earliest, according to Education Minister Kristina Kallas. She explained that comprehensive data collection requires legislative changes that will not be implemented during the current government's term. Various stakeholders currently use different approaches to assess youth fitness, but no unified national framework exists.

Estonia will not systematically test youth physical fitness in the near term, according to correspondence exchanged between the Riigikogu's Social Affairs Committee and the Ministry of Education and Research. According to optimistic projections, a national monitoring system for children's physical abilities could launch no earlier than 2028.

Social Affairs Committee pressing for action

The Riigikogu's Social Affairs Committee sent a letter to the Ministry of Education and Research (MER) following a plenary session on 4 July, where physical activity promotion was discussed as a matter of national importance. Committee Chair Signe Riisalo (Reform Party) said the letter was primarily intended to push the ministry into action.

"We wholeheartedly support monitoring children's physical abilities," Riisalo said.

Finland's Suomi liikkeelle programme, already operating in schools, serves as an example. It conducts annual fitness tests among students in grades 5 and 8. Such a framework would provide a comprehensive overview of youth health and enable concrete policy decisions. A study conducted in Finland found that the cost of low physical activity to the state reaches €3.2 billion annually, while raising the share of actively moving people from 23 to 50 per cent would mean savings of around €1 billion.

Legislative changes required

Education Minister Kristina Kallas (Centre Party) explained that comprehensive personal data collection requires amendments to the Basic Schools and Upper Secondary Schools Act, which takes time. "We can't have it so that the minister checks every child's body weight," Kallas said.

The minister met on Tuesday morning with Kristo Tohver, secretary general of the Estonian Olympic Committee, to discuss the same issue. One possible solution discussed was the format of level exams, which currently measure student knowledge in subjects such as mathematics and Estonian. Physical fitness could similarly be assessed on a sample basis rather than for each student individually. "We don't need to test all students in every class; it would be sufficient to test, for example, students in grades 1, 4 and 7," Kallas explained.

Riisalo stressed that there is actually no contradiction between fitness assessment and physical education, which has been implemented since autumn 2024. Under the updated curriculum, students' speed and strength are no longer evaluated against fixed standards. Instead, movement skills are developed and assessed formatively. "One thing is a grade on a diploma, another is monitoring for national statistics," Riisalo explained.

Responsibility fragmented

Multiple stakeholders currently share responsibility for youth physical fitness: the Estonian Olympic Committee manages several programmes, the MER oversees the education sector, and the sports sector falls under the remit of the Ministry of Culture, primarily in the context of elite sport. Riisalo said youth physical development should remain under MER management, and Minister Kallas agrees.

The first version of a monitoring system developed by researchers at the University of Tartu is already complete. It includes a beep test, where participants must cover a 20-metre distance at an accelerating pace, plus standing long jump, grip strength measurement using a dynamometer, and flexibility testing.

Concern about youth physical condition has also been expressed by the armed forces, with the percentage of conscripts passing physical tests declining year on year. Conscripts in better physical condition are now incentivised financially: since last year, the state pays a monthly bonus of €50 to all who score at least 240 points on a 300-point scale.