This picture emerges from opinion pieces published by ERR by Toomas Kruusimägi, Director of Tallinn English College (Reform Party), and Andrei Kante, Tallinn's Deputy Mayor for Education (Estonian Center Party).

The biggest obstacle to the quick transition is a massive shortage of qualified staff. Kante notes that Tallinn is already short 229 teachers just for the planned transition, and accelerating the pace would require an additional 176 teachers. The situation is further complicated by delays at the national level in decisions on training and incentivizing teachers.

"The teacher shortage is enormous, but decisions at the state level are stalled," Kante says.

At the same time, readiness varies across schools. Kruusimägi points out that although 20 schools applied for permission to continue teaching in Russian in grades 7–9, only about 60 percent of them wanted fully Russian-language instruction. Many schools were actually seeking flexible solutions or exceptions for specific groups, such as language immersion or special education classes.

"The most important thing is preserving the principle that Estonian-language instruction remains the priority," Kruusimägi notes. "Although transitioning grades 7–9 in lower secondary school to Estonian-language instruction is not yet mandatory next school year, this does not mean the goal can be abandoned or postponed."

However, according to Kante, the Tallinn city government considers such rapid transition to be irresponsible. In his view, the Reform Party is ignoring real resource constraints and system readiness by demanding a sudden and accelerated pace in Tallinn.

Kruusimägi, in turn, argues that the city must respect school autonomy and tie exceptions to objective circumstances, offering a clear and systematic approach. Kante, meanwhile, shifts responsibility to the state and the Estonian Reform Party as the leading governing party, noting that necessary decisions to ensure a pipeline of new teachers have not been made at the national level.

Kruusimägi criticizes the city's current draft on the transition as "bureaucratic and vague," saying it serves political convenience rather than the interests of education.

Kante, for his part, calls the Estonian Reform Party's actions a bid for cheap popularity ahead of elections, arguing that when they were previously part of Tallinn's governing coalition, they themselves supported solutions that prolonged non-Estonian-language instruction.

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