The issue was highlighted at the end of last year by Hendrik Agur, director of the Ida-Viru Vocational Education Center. Agur, who has run the center since August, publicly blamed school principals and owners for the problem.

On Tuesday, January 6, the situation, which has persisted for a number of years, was discussed on ERR's Vikerraadio by Minister of Education and Research Kristina Kallas (Eesti 200), Mayor of Narva Katri Raik and Tallinn Deputy Mayor for Education Andrei Kante (Center.)

In the discussion, Andrei Kante acknowledged that the issue is often raised very emotionally and that there is no simple answer. The deputy mayor emphasized that, in addition to a lack of ability in the Estonian language, many of the students in question also struggle with mathematics and other subjects.

"The problem is that we currently do not have effective intervention mechanisms that would allow us, for example, to offer the necessary support to fifth graders who are falling behind in the learning process," Kante said. "This inevitably leads to a situation where there may be students who are doing well in Estonian and other subjects, alongside others in the same class who are falling behind."

According to Kante, more consideration should be given to ways of identifying such students in advance and providing them with the necessary assistance.

The deputy mayor, who until recently headed the Tõnismäe Real School in Tallinn, believes teacher training is another issue contributing to the problem more broadly.

"If we say that a teacher ought to be an inspiration, a mentor and so on, then we have to provide them with the opportunities to acquire that kind of knowledge and those skills through additional training at universities, or else by other means. As things stand, Estonian language teachers are unable to receive high-quality retraining at those same universities."

According to Narva Mayor Katri Raik, schools with a high proportion of children experiencing learning difficulties are a cause for great concern, with the overall numbers of students requiring additional support growing.

"With the ongoing transition to Estonian-language education, schoolchildren with special educational needs and children with learning difficulties really need greater attention not only from local governments, but also from the state," said Raik.

Minister of Education and Research Kristina Kallas (Eesti 200) disagrees that her ministry alone is responsible for the poor results of Russian-speaking school graduates.

"Each level bears its own responsibility for the fact that children have not learned Estonian. And, in my opinion, for 30 years, everyone has failed the students: teachers and school principals, as well as municipalities and the ministry, which did not ask themselves how things could be done differently because there were no results."

At the same time, Kallas expressed doubt that the vast majority of Russian-speaking primary school graduates will be able to obtain B1 level Estonian in the near future.

"Looking at how they perform in mathematics and the fact that in Estonian-language schools there has never been a 100 percent (pass rate) because there are always children who fail, I consider a pass rate of more than 90 percent to be overly optimistic," said Kallas.

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