Estonia will not be testing physical aptitude of young people for several more years
While concerns have been raised about young people's steadily declining physical fitness for a long time, physical abilities testing will not happen during the current government's term and, under the most optimistic timeline, could be implemented in 2028.
On July 4, the Riigikogu held a plenary session where increasing physical activity was discussed as a matter of significant national importance. In its wake, the Social Affairs Committee sent a letter to the Ministry of Education and Research (HTM) asking about the progress of creating a database for monitoring children's physical abilities.
The aim is to model the system on Finland's Suomi liikkeelle ("Finland on the Move") program, under which physical fitness tests are conducted annually among fifth- and eighth-grade students.
Such a framework would provide a comprehensive overview of young people's health and make it possible to take concrete follow-up steps rather than remain at the level of ideas.
The issue is not limited to public health either; it also has a strong economic dimension. A study conducted in Finland found that low levels of physical activity cost the country €3.2 billion annually. Raising the share of physically active people from 23 percent to 50 percent would, for example, generate savings of around €1 billion.
The initiative is preventive in nature, meaning that a more athletic population is also a healthier one, both physically and mentally.
According to Social Affairs Committee Chair Signe Riisalo (Reform), the main purpose of sending the letter was to encourage the ministry to take action.
"We wholeheartedly support this [monitoring children's physical abilities]," Riisalo said.
At the same time, she said there is no contradiction between the new physical activity curriculum and testing children's physical fitness. Since the fall of 2024, physical education classes in Estonian schools have been replaced by movement education, which no longer evaluates students based on speed or strength but instead emphasizes the development of movement skills. A theoretical written component has also been added to the curriculum.
Under the updated system, students are no longer assessed against fixed standards; instead, evaluation is either formative or summative. This means grades are no longer based on performances in events such as the 100-meter dash and the long jump, but are determined in other ways.
"One thing is the grade on a final report card, another is monitoring [for national statistics]," Riisalo explained.
Responsibility for young people's physical fitness is currently divided among several parties. On one hand, the Estonian Olympic Committee (EOK) runs a number of programs. On the other, the Ministry of Education and Research oversees education, while sports fall under the Ministry of Culture's area of responsibility, though primarily in the context of elite sports.
Riisalo said that at least the physical development of young people should remain under the Ministry of Education and Research and that Minister Kristina Kallas (Eesti 200) agrees with her.
Although information on the website of the Physical Activity Competence Center — established by the EOK to develop and coordinate recreational sports nationwide — states that a youth monitoring program should be completed later this year, Kallas said the ministry is under no such obligation.
According to the minister, comprehensive collection of personal data would require amendments to the Basic Schools and Upper Secondary Schools Act, meaning the process will take time.
"It can't really be the case that the minister is looking at every child's body weight," Kallas said.
Kallas added that she met with EOK Secretary General Kristo Tohver on Tuesday morning and that the same topic was discussed there as well. One possible solution would be to use a format similar to standardized assessment tests, which are currently used to measure students' skills in subjects such as mathematics and Estonian.
That would not mean every child's physical abilities would be measured; instead, the process would be based on a representative sample.
"There would be no need to test students in every grade. Testing first, fourth and seventh grades, for example, would be enough," Kallas explained.
According to the minister, however, neither the current government nor the current composition of the Riigikogu is capable of pushing such a contentious initiative through. Under the most optimistic scenario, nationwide monitoring of young people's physical abilities could therefore begin in 2028.
The Estonian Defense Forces have also expressed concern about young people's physical fitness, as the share of conscripts passing physical tests has declined year after year. To encourage young people to enter compulsory military service in better shape, the state has since last year paid a bonus of €50 per month to anyone who scores at least 240 points on a test graded on a 300-point scale.
Meanwhile, the first version of a monitoring system developed by researchers at the University of Tartu is already complete and a pilot project has been carried out. It includes the beep test, in which participants run 20-meter intervals at an increasingly rapid pace, a standing long jump, a handgrip strength test using a dynamometer and a flexibility test.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski
