Museums plan to protest field trip funding confusion in front of education ministry
The Estonian Museum Association is planning a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Education and Research building in Tartu on April 28 to draw attention to the decline in school trips.
Estonian Museum Association board chair Kerttu Männiste said the association itself describes the planned demonstration as an event with both artistic and educational content.
The exact list of participants and planned activities has not yet been finalized, but Männiste said the plan is to invite museums, theaters and other institutions offering experiential education to gather in front of the Ministry of Education and Research and present parts of their programs.
The goal, Männiste said, is to spread the message that the education offered by cultural institutions plays an important role and helps foster young people's interest and curiosity in participating in Estonian culture.
According to Männiste, the time and place were chosen so that officials and employees of the Ministry of Education and Research would find it as convenient as possible to come and learn about the activities museums and other educational institutions provide.
For its part, the museum association wants the Ministry of Education and Research to find a solution to the situation in which the number of school trips has dropped significantly after schools were no longer allowed to require parents to pay for mandatory field trips.
Männiste said possible solutions could include clearer guidance for schools and parents on how money may legally be requested, avoiding restrictions on parents' freedom of action and increasing funding from the Culture Backpacks program.
Many schools have suspended field trips that are a required part of the curriculum after the Ministry of Education and Research said parents may not be charged for such activities.
The Estonian Constitution states that education must be free and requiring such payments could therefore be considered a form of hidden tuition.
At the same time, the Ministry of Education and Research has not proposed a solution that would restore field trips to their previous level. The ministry has suggested that school operators should fund the trips themselves, that the Ministry of Culture could provide more support for field trips and that any money collected from parents must be entirely voluntary.
As an alternative, schools may organize paid field trips if they are not part of the curriculum.
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Editor: Huko Aaspõllu, Marcus Turovski
