PHOTO: pupils and students held a picket in support of free higher education | Estonia

On Thursday, October 17, pupils and students from different regions of Estonia gathered at a picket in front of Stenbock’s house to remind the government of the importance of maintaining access to free higher education.

The young people explained the action by saying that in recent weeks they had heard rumors about the state’s plans to abolish free education in Estonian-language programs and completely eliminate performance-based scholarships. The latter is already reflected in the draft state budget for next year.

“These changes not only threaten our educational system, but will also lead to wider social and economic consequences,” the Estonian Students’ Union said in a statement.

According to the organization, performance scholarships played an important role in motivating students: “This small amount of support helps to recognize and appreciate the results achieved during studies, and in some cases, just make ends meet. Considering that the amount of the scholarship has remained unchanged since 2013 , one would expect the government to increase it to take into account inflation and the rising cost of living, but instead the plan is to abolish the performance scholarship entirely.”

In the current and already insufficient system of student support, the abolition of scholarships for academic achievements would mean not only a refusal to recognize their achievements. For many students, it would also be a loss of income that allowed them to make ends meet, the union stresses.

In addition, the abolition of free higher education in Estonia could lead to a “brain drain” to the Nordic countries, where there is free higher education and a strong student support system: “This would mean the gradual extinction of higher education and science in the Estonian language and a decrease in the level of education of society And this directly contradicts the state strategy, according to which we strive to ensure that half of the population has a higher education.”

Among the government members, only Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets briefly visited the picket. With Prime Minister Kristen Michal in Brussels, Thursday’s government meeting was remote and no one was at Stenbock’s home.