The Ministry of Education has just updated its guidelines on the principles of financing in schools.

The guidelines explain that educational institutions must purchase all the materials necessary for teaching activities. At Randvere School in Harju County, questions have been raised about where the line should be drawn between a student's own personal materials and supplies that are necessary for teaching activities.

"Questions arise, for example, about skates for when it is necessary to go skating. The question has also come up to some degree about how many drawing supplies and tools we really need, for example. Is there a line somewhere else, or does the school really have to fork out for everything?" said Piret Tislar, principal of Randvere School.

According to the Ministry of Education, the law does not specifically list which personal school supplies have to be bought by parents. In practice, they include school bags and writing materials.

However, if additional materials are necessary for the fulfilment of the curriculum, the school must ensure those materials are available to everyone. This includes all art and craft supplies, as well as sporting equipment such as skis.

"If any activity takes place at school, is part of the curriculum, and is directly related to teaching, then no fee can be charged for it. It is the school administrator's responsibility to provide these teaching materials," said Minister of Education Kristina Kallas (Eesti 200).

"The government has also paid subsidies to school administrators for teaching materials. This has worked so far, but I understand very well that the support paid by the state is not enough and that school administrators themselves always have limited resources," Kallas added.

However, Kallas hopes parents will not try to take advantage of the new guidelines.

The Education Act also obliges parents to ensure their children are provided with all the necessary conditions for learning, including the requisite personal school supplies.

As the largest school operator in Estonia, the City of Tallinn sees this as bringing a significant increase in costs, as schools will now have to purchase a much larger amount of teaching materials than before.

"The ministry's somewhat arrogant attitude, or rather that of the curriculum, informs local governments of the additional costs they will have to bear. In my opinion, this is not the right attitude, and this kind of unilateral resolution is actually not constructive," said Tallinn Deputy Mayor Andrei Kante (Center).

According to Kante, Tallinn is prepared to go to court if necessary to clarify who will be responsible for covering these costs.

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