In a social media post, Hendrik Agur, head of the Ida-Viru County Vocational Education Center, posed a pointed question to the heads of so-called "transition schools" — former Russian-language schools — in Ida-Viru County and elsewhere in Estonia: "Do you plan to buy visas to Russia for your graduates and send them to vocational schools there, given that their poor Estonian language skills effectively block them from continuing their studies in Estonian upper secondary schools?"

Agur said his school, which operates in Jõhvi, Sillamäe and Narva, sees the problem firsthand with about half of the students who graduated from Russian-language basic schools this spring.

"There is no longer any vocational training in Russian, even in Ida-Viru County. Where exactly do you think you're sending them? You're still, even in 2025, pushing monolingual Russian-speaking youth over the wall out of your schools — students who can't speak a word of Estonian. And there are many of them," he said.

According to Agur, although all of these students are officially certified as having reached B1 level Estonian, in reality only a small fraction truly meet that standard.

"I'm not talking about the students now in third and fifth grade, who are expected to reach upper secondary school and vocational education with real Estonian skills by 2030. The law requires that even the students currently in sixth through ninth grade must graduate from basic school with at least B1-level Estonian," Agur said.

But in his view, this is not happening. As a result, he believes the school leaders are deceiving their students, their parents and the state.

"You're sending young people out into the world who might, at best, have a weak A1 level in Estonian — or no language skills at all — and you calmly watch as they're expected to 'manage in life.' In truth, you don't care. What have you done? Why haven't you lived up to your responsibilities? Do you even understand, school principals of Russian-language basic schools, how irresponsible it is to let young people graduate without basic Estonian skills?" he asked.

Agur said he sees students who can't ask to go to the restroom during class or understand simple instructions like being asked to pour tea or go to the room at the end of the hallway.

He dismissed the excuse that teachers are hard to find, saying that it's ultimately the responsibility of the school director to make it work.

"It's all up to you — if you really want it. If you have the right mindset. If your values are in the right place. Do you? I doubt it. There are no results. And by the way, English skills among graduates of Russian-language basic schools in our region are also virtually nonexistent and their math skills are poor as well," Agur said.

He emphasized that the students themselves are not to blame. In many cases, their home and community environments offer little or no exposure to Estonian, which makes school the only place where they can learn the state language and be introduced to Estonian cultural and civic values. That responsibility, Agur said, lies squarely with the principals of Russian-language basic schools and the institutions that operate them. In his view, school leaders who do not stand up for the Estonian state or for their students should be replaced.

"The time for empowerment, adaptation and other trendy buzzwords is over. The official language must be taught properly. That's it," Agur said.

School to pause other studies until it can teach students Estonian

To address the challenges within his own school, Hendrik Agur is planning a radical reform at the Ida-Viru County Vocational Education Center: regular studies will be put on hold for an extended period while students first focus on fully learning Estonian. Only after that will they proceed with their vocational training.

"There's no other way anymore," Agur said. "What could be a real solution? The state should take over the basic schools in Ida-Viru County — or even all basic education. The state is a reliable school operator and would finally fix this."

Ott Pärna, who is currently leading the creation of the Tallinn Technology College set to open next fall and also heads the Tallinn Lasnamäe School of Mechanics, which will be part of the new college, agreed with Agur's criticism. He noted that many of the young adults at his school cannot write their name or list a hobby in Estonian, let alone hold a simple conversation in the official language.

"With this level of language ability, they cannot receive general or technical education in Estonian at the college level. Later on, in the labor market, they may even pose a danger to themselves and others because they failed to acquire a profession due to inadequate language skills," Pärna said.

He explained that these students have come to vocational school from Russian-language basic schools in places like Loksa, Maardu, Lasnamäe and Õismäe, and that the language gap is not their fault. The blame, he said, lies with the social and educational environments they come from — particularly indifferent school leaders and school operators, under whose watch these students spent nine years in basic education.

"As head of the Tallinn Technology College, I will do everything in my power to ensure these schools become fully Estonian-language institutions. Until that happens, our top priority at the college is to provide intensive instruction in the state language. Only after that will we move on to the technical and vocational studies required for a successful and exciting career — if students are able to reach that point," Pärna added.

The transition to Estonian-language instruction began last year in kindergartens and in first and fourth grades and will continue gradually, year by year, until it is fully implemented by 2030.

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