Second reading of the Basic Education Act bill (419 SE)
Session: 15th Estonian Parliament, 4th session, plenary sitting
Date: 2024-12-05 02:01
Participating Politicians:
Total Speeches: 75
Membership: 15
Agenda Duration: 1h 33m
AI Summaries: 75/75 Speeches (100.0%)
Analysis: Structured Analysis
Politicians Speaking Time
Politicians
Analysis
Summary
The agenda item is the second reading of the draft Basic Education Act prepared by the Riigikogu Culture Committee. The draft is a long-term and collaborative solution, aiming to create a unified system of basic education and childcare services, bringing these services under the authority of the Ministry of Education and creating a unified curriculum for the development of general competencies. The presentation and discussion focused on the technical and substantive changes to the draft concerning the deadlines for providing childcare places, the criteria defining proximity of residence, the requirements for the language of instruction for children, the direction of instruction in Estonian, and the qualification requirements for teachers (including a higher position for the kindergarten director).
Furthermore, the establishment of a daily food cost allowance and the role of the board in this process, the operation of special childcare services with living spaces, and the equalization of the organization of childcare groups with kindergarten groups were discussed. An important part of the draft is related to the transition to Estonian-language education and the practical issues associated with it: how to ensure a reasonable and mutually acceptable arrangement when different municipalities have different kitchens, procurement services, and financing.
Decisions Made 2
The Culture Committee decided to forward the draft basic education act to the second reading of 419 and to schedule a final vote on December 11th of this year.
The second reading is completed, and the committee and board have confirmed that the final vote will proceed according to the decisions made during the session.
Most Active Speaker
The most active speaker was Margit Sutrop (pid ixYqyVDVJdw), a member of the culture committee. Her descriptive position: other (as she is a committee member, not directly a faction representative or designated leader affiliated with a political party).
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The Riigikogu will continue with the 21st item on the agenda—the second reading of Bill No. 419 on the Early Childhood Education Act, and the presenter is requested to be Margit Sutrop, a member of the Culture Committee.
Margit Sutrop
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Honorable chair, esteemed members of parliament and all friends of education — I am pleased to introduce the preparations for the second reading of the Early Childhood Education Act, because the bill has long been awaited, drafted for almost ten years, and after the version rejected at the first reading in June 2022 there is now a strong hope that it will be adopted and come into force on 1 September 2025.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
They request silence and emphasize that there are many rooms in the Riigikogu where one can speak without disturbing others.
Margit Sutrop
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Margit Sutrop describes the preparation for the second reading of Draft Bill 419, in which the Culture Committee and the Ministry of Education and Science submitted 29 amendments, which focus on deadlines for providing childcare placements, the definition of proximity to residence, the operation of private daycares in urban and rural areas, the organization of work of childcare groups, and qualification requirements, the transition to Estonian-language education, and taking into account the opinions of stakeholder groups.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The time for your presentation passed quickly, as if flying.
Margit Sutrop
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Margit Sutrop asks for five more minutes to reach the end.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The deputy chairman Toomas Kivimägi asks for five minutes' time.
Margit Sutrop
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Margit Sutrop stressed that no one may be discriminated against on the grounds of language, and that everyone must be guaranteed the right to obtain Estonian-language education, and she noted that the changes must not lead to segregation; the qualification requirements for music and physical education teachers were discussed, and the draft bill goes to the third reading and final vote on 11 December.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman, Toomas Kivimägi, thanked the presenter for the very clear presentation, said that there were a few questions, and invited Henn Põlluaas to speak.
Henn Põlluaas
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Henn Põlluaas claims that the biggest problem with the bill is that Estonian children are not guaranteed a constitutional right to study and grow up in an Estonian-language cultural environment, and it is therefore unacceptable that the obligation to provide Estonian-language education has been removed, and would you vote for it if your grandchild were to attend a kindergarten group where the majority of the children do not speak Estonian?
Margit Sutrop
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Margit Sutrop stressed that every child must be provided with Estonian-language education, and that through Estonian-language education and the qualifications of teachers an Estonian-language environment should be secured, because differentiation based on the home language would be discriminatory and unconstitutional.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Toomas Kivimägi invited Jaak Valge to speak.
Jaak Valge
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Jaak Valge criticized the bill's ambiguous language requirements and noted that they are not codified in the Language Act, and asked whether it would be irresponsible to vote for the Early Childhood Education Act before these requirements are legally codified.
Margit Sutrop
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Margit Sutrop said that language and qualification requirements will be implemented in a phased manner: the requirements for teachers will come into force already in 2024, for kindergarten teachers on 1 September 2025, for teaching assistants generally by 31 August 2029 (Estonian language proficiency will apply in the same way as in other institutions), directors must have a master's degree, and a transition will follow, and the requirement for Estonian-language proficiency for daycare centers operating under the Social Welfare Act will come into force.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
Toomas Kivimägi asks Aivar Kokk to take the floor.
Aivar Kokk
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Aivar Kokk says that the draft raises questions from start to finish, emphasizes that the kindergarten director must have a master's degree, and that the issue of the state language, as well as the removal of the decision-making authority over the daily allowance from the parents’ council and its transfer to the municipalities, are controversial, and he accuses the Reform Party of having led us into poverty and having taken away parents’ right to decide.
Margit Sutrop
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
The speech focuses on the cost of food.
Aivar Kokk
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Aivar Kokk says that it will be handed over automatically and that something will begin from that.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
He simply expressed gratitude.
Aivar Kokk
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Aivar Kokk says that he doesn't know whether it is done by a municipal government official — that would be the very worst — and that it is completely unbelievable, and he asks how such an idea came about.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
They thanked and confirmed that the question is understandable.
Aivar Kokk
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Aivar Kokk asks whether the commission has also involved the parents' representatives.
Margit Sutrop
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Sutrop thanked the questioner for the question, saying that the draft contains many contentious issues, but it has been very thoroughly considered, and behind it is precisely the Union of Towns and Municipalities, not the Reform Party.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman, Toomas Kivimägi, asked all colleagues not to interrupt.
Margit Sutrop
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
In short, parents can indeed vote and express their wishes, but the final decision regarding the kindergartens depends on the results of the tenders and on the various kindergartens, so the law should not try to fix things that cannot actually be put into practice.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-speaker Toomas Kivimägi asks Helle-Moonika Helme to speak.
Helle-Moonika Helme
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Helle-Moonika Helme criticizes the persistent application of the principle of equality in kindergarten, arguing that it may create differences and inequality based on one's mother tongue, and asks how such contradictions can be resolved fairly.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The deputy chairman Toomas Kivimägi expresses thanks.
Helle-Moonika Helme
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Helle-Moonika Helme claims that here Estonian children are discriminated against very clearly.
Margit Sutrop
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Margit Sutrop emphasizes that the director of the kindergarten and the teacher must form groups based on each child's needs and well-being, and take language and cultural differences into account, because true equality means treatment based on needs, not the same treatment, and this requires a professional approach that focuses on language learning and the child's well-being.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The deputy chairman, Toomas Kivimägi, asks his colleagues to let the presenter continue after all.
Margit Sutrop
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Margit Sutrop said that at the moment we cannot continue this discussion here like this, one-on-one, but philosophically it is very interesting, and she is prepared to continue later and at the same time understands that this is an important question.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
Anti Poolamets is invited to speak.
Anti Poolamets
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Anti Poolamets claims that the reform will create a multicultural society, in which the Estonian-language cultural space is taken away from Estonians and Estonian children are put to work as instruments, and he asks whether the requirement of language proficiency for acquiring citizenship is not discriminatory.
Margit Sutrop
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Margit Sutrop asserts that the transition to Estonian-language education in Ida-Virumaa has yielded good results and requires close cooperation among leaders, teachers, and parents; the process is indeed difficult but optimistic, and the main aim is for children to learn the state language while preserving their mother tongue, and to avoid segregation, because this is our common wish while living here.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Toomas Kivimägi invites Jaak Valge to speak.
Jaak Valge
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Jaak Valge refers to the opinion signed by Tartu’s deputy mayor, according to which the draft in its current form would require significant reorganizations in the system and would bring wide-ranging negative consequences for parents and for the city of Tartu, and asks whether voting in favor as a member of the coalition would not cause an identity crisis.
Margit Sutrop
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
He thanks the questioner for the question and says that he has received many good ideas from the City of Tartu and that their proposals have been thoroughly taken into account before the second reading of the bill, but asks to specify what the disagreements are about, because he lacks concrete data.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Toomas Kivimägi asks Aivar Kokk to come onto the stage.
Aivar Kokk
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Aivar Kokk notes that meal prices and menus in Tartu kindergartens may differ, and a parent should not be tied to where they live; instead, all kindergartens should offer the same healthy, high-quality food and a unified menu, so that parents' concerns are not determined by location, even though changes cannot be made at the moment.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The person thanks the audience.
Aivar Kokk
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Aivar Kokk said that, although prices may vary, the price of meals in kindergartens within the municipality should be the same.
Margit Sutrop
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Margit Sutrop said that the requirement to hear the guardians' council's opinion before establishing the per diem is essentially moot, food costs depend on public procurement bids, and in Estonia there is a large difference between municipalities and schools, and the question of whether to harmonize or recognize autonomy is a political discussion that requires debate in the committee.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
Toomas Kivimägi thanked, announced that there were no more questions, opened negotiations, and then invited Vadim Belobrovtsev.
Vadim Belobrovtsev
Profiling Eesti Keskerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Vadim Belobrovtsev claims that the bill would increase state intervention and impose additional burdens on local municipalities in preschool education without additional funding, which would lead to costs for parents and hinder the sector's functioning, and the Association of Estonian Cities and Municipalities has withdrawn from coordination due to an inadequate impact assessment, while the Centre Party faction plans to halt the bill at its second reading.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman, Toomas Kivimägi, asks that Helle-Moonika Helme be invited onto the stage.
Helle-Moonika Helme
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
They say that it will take a little longer.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
This speech is short, and it lasts eight minutes.
Helle-Moonika Helme
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Helle-Moonika Helme said that later she would no longer have to intervene.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
He says that you never disturb me.
Helle-Moonika Helme
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
When discussing Estonian-language education, Helle-Moonika Helme argues that the transition should be carried out in such a way that children who speak other languages can first acquire the Estonian language by means of specialized methods, and only then join the Estonian-language environment, making it fairer and without harming the development of Estonian children, and therefore she proposes to suspend the second reading of the Preschool Education Act draft No. 419.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The deputy chairman Toomas Kivimägi invites Jaak Valge onto the stage.
Jaak Valge
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Jaak Valge regards the bill as unacceptable because it does not guarantee an Estonian-language learning and growth environment for a large portion of children of Estonian nationality, and it could also harm the educational quality for children whose first language is another. Therefore, mass immigration must be halted first, and only then should solutions be sought, for example remedial groups and teachers’ proficiency in Estonian.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
Helir-Valdor Seeder asked for extra time and was given three more minutes.
Helir-Valdor Seeder
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Helir-Valdor Seeder criticized the processing of the draft bill, highlighted the need for allocation based on the Estonian-language growth environment and language proficiency as proposed by Isamaa's amendment, and proposed to suspend the second reading, because, in his view, the ministers' interpretations of the constitution are contradictory and there is a need for clarity and for improving the quality of the draft.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
This is a short appeal to step in front of Margit Sutrop.
Margit Sutrop
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Margit Sutrop explained that the draft is important for the transition to Estonian-language education, will transform kindergartens into educational institutions, raise qualification requirements, and implement modern child-centered pedagogy, but noted that the amendments made in the Culture Committee may threaten children's rights and cause discrimination, and referred to her 15 years of work experience in analyzing kindergartens and to the Good Kindergarten program.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
They want the discussion to last for three more minutes.
Margit Sutrop
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Margit Sutrop emphasizes that Estonian early childhood education is a model for the world thanks to strong funding (about 500 euros per child per month), qualified teachers, and the collaboration between parents and support specialists, which ensures equal opportunities, promotes PISA success, and strengthens the future of the entire education system.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
This is a call to action — your time has come.
Margit Sutrop
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
In the speech, emphasis is placed on cooperation with local governments and the Reform Party's strong recommendation to support the bill, and the speech ends with words of thanks.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
At the start of the speech, Aivar Kokk is invited to the microphone.
Aivar Kokk
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Aivar Kokk said that although Estonia's early childhood education is the best in Europe, the draft bill is the worst, because it allows local authorities to raise the cost of a kindergarten place and to take even the last penny from parents of children, and therefore Isamaa does not support this draft bill.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Arvo Aller announces that the speeches have ended and the negotiations are closed; regarding the draft bill, 31 amendment proposals have been made, and their review will continue.
Helir-Valdor Seeder
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Helir-Valdor Seeder emphasizes that, according to the Ministry of Education and Science's expert opinion, the amendment added is unconstitutional and discriminatory, and asks whether it is in line with the aims of the government-initiated draft bill and whether the chair may put it to a vote, fearing a new precedent.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
In Arvo Aller's speech, a procedural question regarding the proposed amendment is discussed, and the opinions of the Culture Committee and the Steering Committee are presented, where the majority of the proposed amendments are intended to be taken into full account (from the first to the sixth), the seventh Isamaa faction's proposal is left unconsidered, and finally he asks Helir-Valdor Seeder.
Helir-Valdor Seeder
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Helir-Valdor Seeder thanks the chair and asks that this amendment proposal be put to a vote.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
In Arvo Alleri's speech, he announced the preparation for the vote, presented the Isamaa faction's seventh amendment proposal, and noted that the steering committee wishes to leave it unconsidered, urging colleagues to take a stand and vote.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
The proposal did not receive support (14 in favor, 46 against; 0 abstentions), and the amendments proposed by the Culture Committee and the Steering Committee address full consideration or its omission, whereas the 15th amendment proposal seeks to omit consideration, Helir-Valdor Seeder, please.
Helir-Valdor Seeder
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Helir-Valdor Seeder thanks the chair and asks that this amendment proposal be put to a vote.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
Vice-Chair Arvo Aller proposed to begin voting and to put the Isamaa faction's 15th amendment proposal to a vote, which the steering committee wishes to disregard, and asked everyone to take a position and vote.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
During the briefing it was stated that the steering committee wishes to terminate the second reading of the draft bill 419, with 15 in favour, 45 against and 0 abstentions; the amendments 16–31 proposed by the Culture Committee must be taken into account in full; three factions (Isamaa, EKRE and Keskerakond) have submitted proposals to suspend the second reading, for which preparations for the vote are underway, and a question from Kalle Grünthal was addressed to the chair.
Kalle Grünthal
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Kalle Grünthal asked how to proceed and vote on a draft bill referring to an amendment proposal that is unconstitutional, if the explanatory memorandum notes its unconstitutionality and we have sworn to uphold the constitutional order.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
Deputy Speaker Arvo Aller announced that the plenary session did not support the amendment proposal, and he introduced Bill 419, a motion to suspend the second reading, i.e., regarding the Preschool Education Act, asking the factions to take a position and vote.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
The proposal did not gain support, because 16 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour, 44 against and 0 abstentions; the second reading has been completed.