"And the remaining open spots could then be applied for by children who don't live in that municipality. Of course, this encourages people to play games with their registered addresses — we know that happens. But we need to find solutions, because it's clearly not right that young people in Tartu who've earned mostly A's and B's can't get into a high school in their hometown," said Kallas.

According to Kallas, there is a serious shortage of high school spots in Tartu and Pärnu, and to some extent in Tallinn as well. Meanwhile, rural municipalities have high schools that are half-empty. This is due to a growing trend of internal migration in Estonia, with more students moving to larger cities to attend high school.

"In other words, they don't go to the high school nearest their residence, but rather to the closest larger city. Tartu has seen this for years — students from Southern Estonia are flocking there for high school," Kallas said.

As a result, nearly 56 percent — more than half — of Estonia's high school students are not studying at a school close to home, but elsewhere. This trend has also been fueled by the fact that large age cohorts are currently finishing basic school.

"In Tartu, there are about 400 more basic school graduates than there are high school seats. In Tallinn, the number of students finishing basic education and the number of high school spots are about equal. But students from outside the capital also apply to schools in Tallinn, which means the competition there is intense too."

Kallas pointed out that although there are state high schools in Võru, Valga, Põlva and Nõo, Tartu continues to attract students.

"Tartu draws students because if university is the next goal, the first step is often taken before that — by coming to Tartu for high school."

Next week, representatives from the Ministry of Education will meet with Tartu city officials to discuss increasing the number of high school spots. But according to Kallas, this is no magic fix.

"It's like traffic congestion — if you widen the roads, more cars come. Add more high school places in Tartu, and even more students may migrate there. It might not reduce competition at all."

She added that it's clear Tartu will not be adding 400 new high school places. And even if it did, that wouldn't account for the additional applicants coming from Southern Estonia. In other words, even more seats would be needed.

"One way to ease the pressure would be to eliminate entrance exams, something Tartu has still insisted on. I understand Tartu's desire to rank students, since the competition is so tough. But the basic school final exams should be sufficient for making selections."

In Estonia, high schools have historically attracted more applicants than vocational education programs. While about half of basic school graduates in other European countries choose vocational education, in Estonia the figure is only around 25 percent.

Although high school has always been more popular in Estonia, vocational education could help relieve the pressure on high schools — especially since, according to Kallas, vocational education has improved significantly.

She emphasized that vocational graduates who enter the workforce immediately — without going on to university — have a considerable advantage over high school graduates when it comes to both salaries and job security.

"Now there are four-year vocational programs, many of which are offered in Tartu, and they're a good alternative to high school. You can earn both a secondary education and a professional qualification. At the same time, we see that demand for applied colleges in Tartu is also high — vocational schools in the city are filling up fast. There's something about the city lights that pulls people in."

The minister said that although June is a stressful month because of the high school application process, every child will have a place to study by mid-August at the latest.

"Everyone gets in eventually. The problem is that the stressful waiting period is too long for the kids. We should be working toward a system where, by Midsummer, every child knows where they'll be continuing their studies."

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