Inquiry regarding elementary school textbooks (no. 672)
Session: 15th Riigikogu, 5th session, plenary session
Date: 2025-01-27 17:24
Participating Politicians:
Total Speeches: 61
Membership: 15
Agenda Duration: 1h 15m
AI Summaries: 61/61 Speeches (100.0%)
Analysis: Structured Analysis
Politicians Speaking Time
Politicians
Analysis
Summary
The central topic of the agenda is the inquiry presented by members of the Riigikogu – Anti Poolamets, Varro Vooglaidi, Arvo Aller, Evelin Poolamets, Rain Epler, Rene Kok, Siim Polaku, Martin Helme, Helle-Moonika Helme, and Mart Helme – regarding primary school textbooks, presented on December 4th of last year. The presentation of the inquiry and introduction to the agenda began in the Riigikogu speaker's hall, where Anti Poolamets, as the presenter, was invited to introduce the inquiry. Despite delays and adherence to protocol during the session, a second point of attention addressed the procedure for conducting the session: Rain Epler raised a significant procedural question, which the chairperson explained and confirmed, stating that members may speak for one hundred seconds initially, but the board will assess how to proceed. Subsequently, attention was directed to the substance of the inquiry: the substantive composition of primary school textbooks and the validity of textbook behavior, along with an unwavering scientific consensus regarding gender.
In the substantive portion, the focus was on the content of the primary school human studies workbook and its consistency with the national curriculum, as well as the review process. Minister Kristina Kallas clarified that textbooks and workbooks are not approved solely by the minister, but rather experts evaluate their compliance with the curriculum and the requirements for pre-review; the discussion also touched upon the scientific consensus regarding the concept of social gender and the relationship to biological gender, and how schools should not disseminate unscientific claims. The full inquiry raised an open discussion on social trends and the school’s line of responsibility and concluded with the minister’s response and the end of the session, where the chairperson declared the agenda closed.
Decisions Made 1
Decisions have not been made. A preliminary discussion was held, and the agenda item was concluded without any specific legislative or administrative decisions.
Most Active Speaker
Anti Poolamets (member of the Riigikogu, EKRE) was the most active speaker in setting the agenda; his role was the initial introduction of the inquiry and leading the discussion. He belongs to a right-wing political organization, and his presentation emphasized fossil fuels and criticism of the previous debates in the education sector. Based on his activity, I can say that he represents a right-wing stance.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The chair Lauri Hussar introduces as the first item on the agenda the inquiry submitted on 4 December last year regarding primary school textbooks, and asks Anti Poolamets to present it; at the same time Rain Epler has his hand raised to pose a procedural question.
Rain Epler
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Rain Epler asked about the procedure for conducting the meeting, whether there is still a priority for the government representative in the order of submitting bills and parliamentary inquiries, or whether the old tradition has been restored and the order will continue according to registration.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The Speaker Lauri Hussar said that as long as Riigikogu members follow the rules of procedure and parliamentary culture, it is proper that they come to the podium first to speak, and that the chair of the session decides, if necessary, whether a government representative must wait; he added the importance of submitting Anti Poolametsa's inquiry and promised to continue a respectful and orderly debate and to take up two more procedural questions.
Rain Epler
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
According to the speaker, the important issue must be resolved based on people's feelings and what currently seems right, not merely out of habit or rules, and they do not seek a single path, but come into the hall and see how the day unfolds.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
Chairman Lauri Hussar recalled the earlier discussion, stressed the importance of a respectful debate in the Riigikogu's speaking chair, and noted that Anti Poolamets was invited first, which shows that such a discussion is important and the opposition culture has improved.
Martin Helme
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Martin Helme said that Parliament does not function normally, because there are no established practices and decisions are made on a whim, which shows a lack of respect, and he does not want to contribute to the belief that the system works.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
Chairman Lauri Hussar noted that there had been various practices in the chamber, and during the spring session of 2023 there was a major attack on the Parliament's constitutional role, which disrupted work, but now the Parliament's ability to function has been restored and the working culture has improved, and he invited Anti Poolametsa to present today's first interpellation.
Anti Poolamets
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Anti Poolamets criticized the intention of the hate speech law and the idea of imprisoning the opposition, and then drew attention to the gender and sexuality topics addressed in primary school human studies textbooks, emphasizing a conservative view and asking the minister how many different gender identities are taught at school and whether the topics should be limited to only two genders.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
Speaker Lauri Hussar thanked and invited Education and Science Minister Kristina Kallas to respond to the Riigikogu's parliamentary inquiry from the rostrum.
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
Kristina Kallas emphasized that Estonian school curricula and instructional literature are based on scientific consensus and collaboration among experts, not politics, and teachers may refuse to teach unscientific claims, since the materials are peer-reviewed.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
Chairman Lauri Hussar thanks the minister and asks Varro Vooglaid to take the floor in order to pose questions.
Varro Vooglaid
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Varro Vooglaid claims that social or psychological gender is not based on scientific consensus and is, in his words, ideological brainwashing; he emphasizes the biological division between men and women (XX/XY) and rhetorically asks why schools subject children to such influence and why social age could not differ from actual age.
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
Kristina Kallas emphasizes that biological sex is scientifically well defined, and the social, i.e. psychological, gender is just as clear, but science does not confirm the concept of biological race, and race is a social phenomenon that a person identifies for themselves.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
Chairman Lauri Hussar scolded Mart Helme for interrupting and urged the Riigikogu members to behave politely, allowing the minister to respond and the session to continue without shouting.
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
The Minister of Education and Science, Kristina Kallas, said that her answer was left unfinished and she asked whether she could finish it.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
Speaker Lauri Hussar invited the minister to answer, rebuked Mart Helme's word usage and stressed the importance of politeness, saying that after the minister's answer one may ask questions and participate in negotiations.
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
Kristina Kallas emphasized that, although different viewpoints may persist, she bases her opinion on scientific consensus, and that social gender, together with biological sex, is a social construct that depends on the environment in which one grows up, culture, and norms.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The chair, Lauri Hussar, asked Kalle Grünthal to calm down and announced a five-minute break to think about how to conduct the debate calmly in the Riigikogu chamber.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The chair's recess has ended, and the discussion of today's first item on the agenda will continue, during which the minister will be asked to finish her answer.
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
Education and Science Minister Kristina Kallas said that biological and social gender may not always coincide, and society must accept this and allow people to freely define their identity, in order to avoid oppression and the health risks associated with it.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
Chairman Lauri Hussar asks Martin Helme to speak.
Martin Helme
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Martin Helme accuses the Minister of Science and Education of complete ignorance and of lying about science, referring to the 2011 curriculum by Tõnis Lukas, according to which from the eighth grade an extremist ideology of transsexuality is taught, and calls the whole process a mafia-like tour and "pseudo," and finally asks what a parent should do if such teaching does not align with their opinion.
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
Education and Science Minister Kristina Kallas emphasized that a parent must accept that a child is being given information about today’s society and the scientifically valid consensus on issues of people’s roles and sexuality, and that instruction should be based on today’s scientific consensus, not the aforementioned curricula or workbooks.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The chair, Lauri Hussar, announced that his colleague Mart Maastik was not in the chamber, and continued the order of questions by inviting Rene Kokk to speak.
AI Summary
Rene Kokk notes with extreme sadness that there is no clear consensus in society on social benefits, and a scientific stance must not become a guide for parents, because in the past similar claims have proven to be mistaken (as in the Seto language or lobotomy).
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
There probably weren't any questions.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The chair announces that we shall proceed and asks Mart Helme to take the floor.
Mart Helme
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Mart Helme said that a minister must not determine for people what their correct views are and what to share, and he accuses Estonia of ideological censorship and dictatorship and calls on people to protest and to ask when the government will change its stance.
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
Kristina Kallas emphasizes that she explains the foundations for the development of the national curriculum and the wording of learning outcomes, and states that in Estonia the current debate is taking place in a free country, where the present situation should not be compared with scientific communism.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The chairman, Lauri Hussar, turns to his colleague Mart Maastik and asks him to begin.
Mart Maastik
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Maastik asks whether it is right that a history teacher may base themselves on their own desires and say whatever they want, rather than follow the national curriculum, referring to the practices of Narva and Russian-language schools.
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
They explained that a teacher may choose teaching materials and teaching methods, but must be guided by the national curriculum and learning outcomes.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The chairman invited Kert Kingo to speak.
Kert Kingo
AI Summary
Kert Kingo criticizes the earlier understanding of mental health, emphasizes the uniform nature of people around the world, and asks how it is possible that in America there are two sexes, while we have so many different genders.
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
More than 90% of people have their biological sex aligned with their social gender, but there are also those whose alignment is lacking and who do not fit into societal norms; their non-acceptance has, over the decades, caused mental health problems and thoughts of suicide, which is why it is important to let people be themselves and to fill the roles they are capable of as individuals.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The chair, Lauri Hussar, asks Helle-Moonika Helme to take the floor.
Helle-Moonika Helme
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
The presentation emphasizes that science and scientific consensus are heavily under the influence of funding and political influence, provides an example of the leader of one of the world's major powers who claims that there are only two genders and that gender ideology is an extreme, and that it has been expelled from schools, and notes changes in funders and in the consensus, as well as the grim fate of Lysenkoism and the Lysenkoist repressions, adding that people must convince themselves of things that are not actually true.
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
Kristina Kallas said that she did not know whether it was a question.
Rain Epler
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Rain Epler criticized the excessive emphasis on scientific consensus and the silencing of skeptics, and asked how far the elimination of discrimination based on social gender and the right to use spaces intended for the opposite sex should be developed.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
Prime Minister Lauri Hussar appeals to Rain Epler with a request.
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
Education and Science Minister Kristina Kallas stated that scientific publications are based on peer review and sound methodology, and although there are counterarguments, there is a widely cited consensus that a person's social gender may differ from their biological sex, as shown by Nature articles as well.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The chair, Lauri Hussar, turns to Kalle Grünthal and asks him to come forward.
Kalle Grünthal
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
The presenter claimed that in Estonia and elsewhere in the world there are quite a few Hitlers, Napoleons and Roman Popes in closed institutions who feel themselves exactly like that, and asked from which psychiatric hospital those scientists who form the scientific consensus have been released—from Seewald or Jämejala.
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
The Minister of Education and Science Kristina Kallas said that she would not respond to such a provocation, because science is not worth this debate.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
Chairman Lauri Hussar asks Riina Solman to deliver a speech.
Riina Solman
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Riina Solman asks how a political consensus on the issue of gender identity has emerged worldwide and in Estonia, and whether the lack of debate and the topic addressed in schools could affect young people's identity and the situation of people who will start using medications long-term.
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
Education and Science Minister Kristina Kallas said that gender-affirming surgeries must be considered thoroughly and not taken lightly, especially for young people, and that political consensus must be based on WHO principles and the Estonian sexual health education curriculum.
Henn Põlluaas
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Henn Põlluaas claims that gender self-identification is a mental disorder for him, and that normalizing it in schools disturbs children and causes them psychological problems, whose aim, according to him, is to confuse them.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
This is merely a request to invite Henn Põlluaas onto the stage.
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
Kristina Kallas said that a school textbook does not determine a person’s gender identity, and teachers do not deal with it, but the curriculum provides knowledge about social roles and sexual health, and new scientific knowledge lays the groundwork for policy.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The chairman thanked the minister, announced that the questions had ended, opened negotiations, and invited first to the podium the representative of the questioners, Anti Poolamets; then Mart Maastik will speak.
Anti Poolamets
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Anti Poolamets criticizes in his speech Western cultural Marxism, the spread of LGBT and trans themes, and the acceleration of puberty-blocking measures; he recalls the Soviet era and claims that pseudoscience persists by force.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The Speaker Lauri Hussar asks for three minutes of extra time.
Anti Poolamets
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Anti Poolamets accuses Estonian schools of spreading pseudoscience and Lysenkoism, calls on the science minister to resign, and demands a review of the work of textbooks and commissions and the restoration of the dignity of the Estonian scientific community.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The Speaker thanked him and invited his Riigikogu colleague Mart Maastik to speak at the Riigikogu's rostrum.
Mart Maastik
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Mart Maastik expresses deep sadness about this debate and criticizes the 72 gender-identity variants as an ideological influence, emphasizing that the curriculum and compulsory textbooks should be discussed through national consensus, and accusing science of political interference and of the ideological influence of the coalition.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The chairman, Lauri Hussar, asked for three more minutes.
Mart Maastik
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Mart Maastik expresses concern about young people's self-identity issues and calls them pseudoscience, emphasizing that children should be kept away from propaganda and, if necessary, should turn to a doctor for help.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
Many thanks – there are no requests to speak, and Education and Research Minister Kristina Kallas asked for a word from the Riigikogu's speaking chair.
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
Kristina Kallas said that in Estonia education and textbooks must remain science-based and cooperation between teachers and scientists must take place; politicians must not dictate the content of textbooks, and science must be independent of funding and based on international scientific consensus.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The chair, Lauri Hussar, thanked everyone and announced that he would close the negotiations and end today’s discussion of the first item on the agenda.