14,700 children start 1st grade in Estonia
Approximately 160,000 students will attend general education schools this year. Minister of Education and Research Kristina Kallas wished students curiosity and a little rebelliousness in their thinking.
More than 26,000 students will begin vocational education this year. There are more than 47,000 university students this year.
An estimated 45,700 students will attend Tallinn's municipal general education schools in the new academic year. Around 3,600 children will start first grade this year. Exact student numbers will be available by September 10, once schools have entered their data into the Estonian Education Information System (EHIS).
Tallinn has 60 municipal schools and one vocational school.
Fewer than 17,000 children will attend Tallinn's municipal kindergartens in the 2026-2027 academic year. As of September 1, Tallinn has 115 kindergartens, with additional kindergarten groups operating at Tallinn Laagna Kindergarten-Basic School and Tallinn Helen School.
This year, the School Peace title will go to Rapla County for the first time, with Märjamaa Municipality selected as the titleholder. School Peace brings together the communities of six educational institutions in Märjamaa Municipality around the shared goal of keeping schools friendly, safe and caring places.
Minister: A little mischief in thinking
Minister of Education and Research Kristina Kallas said in her message marking the start of the academic year that September 1 is one of the few days of the year when people across almost all of Estonia seem to make a fresh start.
"Some are going to school for the first time, others for the last. Some are standing in front of a classroom as a teacher for the first time. And some parents discover in the very first week that their knowledge of math is not quite as fresh as they thought."
She noted that we live in a time when artificial intelligence can write an essay, solve an equation and provide an answer to almost any question in seconds. This can make it tempting to ask: Why bother learning at all?
"But perhaps the right question is actually the opposite: If answers become cheap, what becomes valuable? Independent thinking. The ability to recognize when a machine is wrong. Creativity. The ability to engage deeply. Understanding other people. And the courage to say: 'I don't know yet, but I want to know.' These things cannot be downloaded with a single click."
Kallas wished students curiosity and a little rebelliousness in their thinking this academic year.
"Don't always settle for the first answer. To teachers, I wish creativity and resilience. Sometimes, after all, the best learning happens precisely when a lesson takes a slightly different direction than planned."
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Editor: Urmet Kook, Marcus Turovski
