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THE SOVIET EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN ESTONIA, 1940-1991
In 1940, the Republic of Estonia was incorporated into the Soviet Union, where general literacy hadn’t been reached yet ( 62,6% literate in 1930) and the system of education was quite different from the western countries: the state school system prevailed, the secondary education course was comparatively shorter ( 10 grade), in the country-side the compulsory education confined within 4 years ( general 7- grade compulsory education was established in the Soviet Union in 1949). The aim was to assimilate the Estonian school system with the one of the Soviet Union, but at first the differences remained. Private schools were reorganized into the state ones or closed, compulsory education was extended from the age of 14 to 15. At the beginning all types of schools were subordinated to the People’s Commissariat of Education of the Estonian SSR, founded on August 25, 1940. The progymnasium, secondary scientific school and gymnasium were replaced with the unified secondary school; classes from VII to XII ( also the XI class might have been considered as final) belonged there. In many elementary 6-grade schools, VII classes were opened. The religious instruction, civics, old languages were removed from the curricula, the Russian language became an essential subject. The bases of the whole education were the principals of the Marxist-Leninist ideology. A great number of teachers were transferred or discharged, many were executed or deported, the Estonian Teachers Union was liquidated. The Organizations of Young Pioneers and the Young Communist Leagues were founded in many schools. In January 1941, departments of the public education were established to the Executive Committees of the Soviets of the Workers Deputies (SWD) of counties ( districts from 1950) and towns to administer and control the educating. The People’s Commissariat of Education was evacuated to Moscow in August, 1941.
It was possible to open almost all schools on mainland during the re-occupation of Estonia in October 1944. 198 elementary, 790 7- grade schools and 38 secondary schools worked in 1944/45. During the following years the number of the elementary schools rose, the one of the 7-grade fell down in some degrees. Hostels were established to enable attending school of those who lived far from school. Until 1958, 7- grade compulsory education was in force in Estonia, that was in general managed to fulfil from the early 1950ies.
According to the fourth Five Year Plan (1945 – 1950), 50% of the graduates of the 7- grade had to be sent to the VIII class of the general school. The new secondary schools were opened in cities and market towns, (there were 75 secondary schools in academic year of 1949/50), additionally, evening and correspondence secondary schools started off. The textbooks and programs of the independence time were partly being used in the first after-war years. Because of the occupation and war the Estonian intelligence, incl. pedagogical staff had suffered great losses. 3642 teachers (of these only 431 with higher education) worked at schools during 1944/45. More than a third of them didn’t have pedagogical education. Due to the destroying campaign of the «old intelligence» after the VIII Plenum of the ECP (Communist Party of Estonia) (1950) many well-trained teachers and heads of schools lost their jobs.
In 1946 the People’s Commissariat of Education of the ESSR was reorganized into the Ministry of Education of the ESSR.
The Departments of Education of the Executive Committees of the provinces (Tallinn, Tartu, Pärnu) formed the connection between the Ministry of Education of the ESSR and the Departments of Education of the districts in 1952 – 1953.
The state control over the educating and training was carried out by the inspectors of the Departments of Education and Ministry of Education. With that, the hierarchic system of control formed, where the inspectors of the Ministry of Education controlled the ones of towns and districts. In the first half of the 1950ies, the still remaining separate schools for boys and girls were reformed into co-educational ones.
In 1956 the statute of the boarding schools was accepted, on the bases of which the general school were opened, where academic education was connected to the productional practice. 12 general schools and 15 special boarding schools worked during the academic year of 1956/57. The so-called classes with the so-called lengthened day, where children were under pedagogical supervision during the whole day, were organized from the academic year of 1956/57. The aim was to make the social training in the collective more effective.
At the XX congress of the Communist Party of the USSR ( 1956) the confirmation of the connections between the education and production work was enforced. On December 24, 1958, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR passed the law « Strengthening of the Connections between School and Life and the Development of the Educational System in the Soviet Union» , on April 24, 1959, the corresponding law of the Estonian SSR followed. Connecting of studies and work had to guarantee the growth of work efficiency. The network of the evening and correspondence schools was widened: their number rose from 64 in 1959/60 to 119 in 1965/66. The general 8- grade compulsory education was established, the reformation into which began in the 1959/60 (the reform was considered to be fulfilled in 1962/63, when the first certificates of the 8-grade schools were given, still, in 1977, the 8- grade school was graduated by normal attendance by 92% of the students).
The theoretical and practical production training of 10 – 12 lessons a week together with work in an enterprise were added into the curricula of IX –XI classes of secondary schools. The production training ended in compulsory examination of qualification. It wasn’t possible to provide a high quality education because of the lack of the qualified teachers and training bases. Labour training was carried out also by self-service of the pupils ( for example: the cleaning of classrooms). At the same time the quantity of other subjects (especially humanitarian ) decreased in secondary schools and the level of general education of the youth aiming at studies in higher schools suffered.
To intensify the general education, the teaching of foreign languages was reestablished in basic school.
The teaching of social theory was started in the final classes of general schools to strengthen the ideological bases. The studies of Estonian were concentrated to the cycle of V – VIII ,In teaching Russian, the main emphasis was given to the spoken language. In some schools, it was allowed to teach some more specific subjects, in mid-60ies the so-called biased classes and schools of exact sciences, foreign languages, history, art, music etc. were formed. Voluntarily chosen subjects were added to the curricula ( facultative subjects ). The republic was allowed to make up its own curricula and programs according to the directions of the Soviet Union. The establishing of the Ministry of Education of the Soviet Union witnessed the restrain of the liberation and the limited self-determination policy. After that, the Ministry of Education of the ESSR was degraded into the soviet-republican. At the end of the World War II the number of Estonians in the whole population was 97%, proportionately, the educational system operated mainly in Estonian. In 1956/57 77% of the general schools of Estonia were Estonian, 23% were Russian. The politics, which favoured immigration, led to the fast lowering of the share of the Estonians in the population (60,6% in 1988) and the Russian educational sector enlarged reaching 1/3 in the field of the general education. The programs of the Russian Federation were in use in the Russian schools, due to the conscious politics, these schools had weak binds with the country and culture of Estonia, the teaching of the Estonian language was ineffective or non-existent. A small amount of Estonians used the opportunity to get the education in Russian – mainly the Russian-Estonians, and those who arrived back from the deportation in Siberia.
The number of the production training lessons was reduced and the compulsory qualification examination was disclaimed from the academic year of 1964/65. The production training was replaced with the polytechnic manual training (from 1977 profound manual training). In 1978 the first trade and production integrated plants were opened (in 1985 there were 10 of the kind). Russian schools, which due to production training had been changed into 11- grade ones, were reorganized into 10- grade again. The same was planned with Estonian schools, but thanks to the support of the cultural public it remained 11- grade.
In the middle of the 1960ies closing of the small schools in the countryside began, the share of studying in towns rose to 71% of the total of students. It brought along the concentration of the rural people to the centers, the emptying of the farmhouses and the estrangement of the youth from the country life. From the first half of the 1980ies the establishing of the kindergartens-elementary schools began in some places to bring the first steps of education nearer to home.
The options of the graduates of the secondary schools were tried to be limited in several ways. The characteristics -references of the party, trade union, the YCL etc. were demanded from the enterers of the high schools. In high schools, the young people having a working experience of some years were privileged. In 1960 the acceptation to the higher educational establishments and specialized secondary schools was limited. The aim was to lead the graduates of the secondary schools to work on unpopular fields of construction and agriculture.
From the middle of the 1970ies, the so-called system of cabinets was enlarged, there was a special classroom for every subject. In 1970, elementary education was changed into 3- grade and the subject learning was started from the IV class.
The general secondary education was for a long time one of the important aims of the CP of the Soviet Union ( in the Program of the Party accepted at the XXII congress (1961) it was together with the communist educating and the harmonious development of the youth the prime task of education. The general secondary education was tried to be carried out in reality, especially in the 1970ies, on the bases of the corresponding Decree (1972) of the CC of the CP of the Soviet Union. At the XXVI Congress of the CP of the Soviet Union the implementation of the general secondary education was proclaimed accomplished, although the entire realization of the plan was impossible.
In 71 elementary-, in 272 8 grade-, in 173 secondary-, in 43 special schools – studied the total of 192 800 and in 52 evening- (in terms) schools 22 285 pupils. The number of the teachers was approximately 14 000. The qualification of the pedagogical staff gradually got better: the number of teachers with higher education was 12%, after the war it grew to 31% in 1960 and to 75% in 1983. At the same time, there were many teachers without professional education at schools. In 1987 , Estonians formed up 71,4%, male teachers 16,8% and female ones 83,2% of the whole pedagogical staff.
On the background of the decline in economy, the ideological pressure was strengthened on the bases of the theory of melting the nationalities into unified soviet nation. In reality it meant the new attempts of teaching Russian more effectively, talks about the bilingualism and Russian as the second mother tongue, lessening of the relative importance of the teaching of the mother- and foreign languages. In 1981, the studies of Russian in Estonian schools began in the first class, also in kindergartens the studies of Russian started.
In 1984 the reform of general- and vocational education was carried out to rise the standard of the profession training and the preparation for work. The main aim was to integrate general and vocational education, changing it into the general vocational education. The objective was to establish the type of school which would have given general and vocational education, that in reality meant the preparation of skilled workers.
At the same time, it was obvious that the effectiveness of the productional training would be small if the bases of equipment was out of time. The accomplishment to carry through the unifying of the schools of general and vocational education failed.
From 1972 the classes for the 6-year children were opened, in 1986, 65% of children went to school at the age of 6. The school course of the Estonian schools lengthened to 12 years.
In the second half of the 1980ies the control of the USSR over the educational life of the Republic weakened. At the end of the decimal the decentralization of the education system began, rights of decision were given to the local authorities and school leaders. The essence of the education was renewed, attempts were made to connect the subjects of Russian schools with Estonia. In 1988 the Children’ s Organization of Estonia (ELO) was founded. In 1987 the Congress of Teachers and in 1988 the Congress of Education took place, the main theme of which was the education of a free individual.
Vocational schools were subordinated in 1940/41 to the other institutions from the People’s Commissariat of the Education if the ESSR as an example of the USSR: in January , 1941 music- and art schools ( also high schools of the kind) were subordinated to the Government of Arts of the ESSR, in March, agricultural schools to the People’s Commissariat of the Agriculture of the ESSR, in April, a part of the vocational schools of the lower grade to the Government of the Labor Reserves of the ESSR. So, the administrative unity of the educational system of the time of the independence was broken. The educational part of the vocational schools was overlooked and its prestige fell.
After the war the disperse of the school system continued. The training colleges were subordinated to the other ministries but not to the Ministry of Education of ESSR ( most of them in March, 1951). Only the pedagogical schools stayed at the Ministry of Education. In 1957, most of the industrial training colleges were subordinated to the Soviet of the National Economy of the ESSR. In 1959, the Ministry of the Higher Education of the USSR was reorganized into the united-republican Ministry of Higher and Special Secondary Education of the USSR, in the subordination of which, on August,1, 1959 the State Committee of the Higher and Special Secondary Education of the Council of Ministries of the ESSR was formed. In 1968, it was reorganized into the Ministry of Higher and Special Secondary Education of the ESSR.
In 1959 art, music, pedagogical, and medical schools were subordinated to the Committee of Higher and Special Education of the ESSR, from the academic year of 1960/61, training colleges also were. In 1984 there were 37 special secondary schools with 22 390 pupils in Estonia. Vocational schools of the Labor Reserves from 1959 subordinated to the State Committee of the Vocational Training of the ESSR, but other departments had vocational schools too. Between 1964-1968 all 12 training colleges of agriculture were changed to sovkhoz technical ones ( including 5 experimental colleges of agriculture ), in 1990 the educational establishments were separated from the production enterprises and were named schools of agriculture.
In 1985, to administer the agrarian-industrial complex, the State Agrarian Industrial Committee of the ESSR was established to which some of the special secondary schools were subordinated.
In 1987, special secondary schools gave education in approximately 110 specialties.
Vocational schools were changed into secondary vocational ones in the USSR in 1984.
In Estonia, technical schools, vocational schools of towns and countryside were changed into vocational secondary schools in 1984-1985.
In 1988 there were 48 vocational secondary schools in Estonia where 121 professions were taught. Vocational and special secondary schools were organized on the bases of the needs of the extensive industrial development and large-scale agriculture, a part of the teachers and pupils were brought in from Russia, etc.
The reorganizing of the higher educational establishments was planned by the People’s’ Commissariat of Education of the ESSR and accepted by the Committee of the Higher Schools of the USSR. Professors were discharged, the Faculty of Theology of the Tartu University was liquidated, the Faculty of Economy was transferred to the Tallinn Technical University ( renamed Tallinn Polytechnical Institute in March, 1941). The system of the chairs was replaced by the department one, the departments on the bases of Marxism-Leninism ideology were established, the system of subjects was changed into one of the courses. The attending of the lectures was made compulsory and the students organizations were liquidated. The formation of the student body convenient to the new powers began: the certificate of the social origin and parents’ property was demanded from those trying to enter the higher educational institutions. University lost the right to confer academic degrees, plans were made to separate the Faculty of Medicine to special institute. So it was tried to weaken Tartu University and «the spirit of Tartu». The tuition fees were abolished in secondary schools as well as in higher education institutions but not for them whose parents got «non-working profits». In the Soviet Union secondary schools and higher educational establishments were charging for tuition until the academic year of 1956/57.
After the war the role of Tartu University as the center of education and science was decreased by continuing the discharge of the professors and establishment of the Academy of Sciences of the ESSR (1946) and the Academy of Agriculture (1951) on the bases of the Faculties of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary of Tartu University. Many students didn’t get to the university or were thrown out because of the social origin.
As the vocational and special secondary schools, the higher education institutions passed the subordination of several administrations. The Academy of Agriculture was established in subordination to the Ministry of Higher Education of the USSR, in 1956 it was given to the administrative field of the Ministry of Agriculture of the USSR, from the academic year of 1959/60 to the Committee of Higher and Special Secondary Education of the ESSR and 1960/61 the Ministry of Agriculture of ESSR. In 1980ies it was subordinated to the State Agrarian-Industrial Committee of the USSR.
Tartu State University and Tallinn Polytechnic Institute went in 1946 from the Ministry of Education of the ESSR to the direct subordination of the Ministry of Higher Education of the USSR. These higher educational institutions were in the administrative field of the Main Government of the Ministry of Culture of the USSR in 1953/54. In 1959 Tartu State University and Tallinn Polytechnic Institute were subordinated to the State Committee of High and Special Secondary Education of the ESSR.
Higher Art School «Pallas» was renamed into State Higher Art School by the name of K. Mägi, after the war, the State Art Institute worked in Tartu . In Tallinn, the State School of Applied Art named by Koort was established by uniting the Art School of Applied and Figurative Arts and State Art School in 1940, on its bases, the Tallinn State Institute of Applied Arts was formed in 1944. In 1950 Tallinn State Institute of Applied Arts and Tartu State Art Institute were joined into the State Art Institute situated in Tallinn. In 1950 Tallinn State Conservatoire was united with the State Theatre Institute (established in 1946 ). Tallinn Pedagogical Institute which provided higher education was established in 1952, first it was subordinated to the Ministry of Education of the ESSR, from 1959/60 to the Committee of Higher and Special Secondary Education of the ESSR. Some special educational institutions, such as the Republic Party School of the ECP educating the officials of the party and soviets during 1945-1958, the Tallinn Higher Political Construction Military School established in Tallinn in 1980 to enlarge the Russian influence and Tallinn Higher School of Leaders of the Agrarian-Industrial Complex of the ESSR in 1985 were also considered to be higher educational establishments. There were 7 higher educational institutions with 24 588 students in Estonia in 1984.
For the pre-schoolers there were only 13 creches in 1940, the number was the biggest during 1960-1970 (80-100), later it decreased. The number of kindergartens was also the biggest between 1960-1970 (approximately 170). From 1958 the establishing of the all-day kindergartens began ( kindergarten united with cr?ches). The number of the all-day kindergartens rose and in the middle of the 1980ies there were over 500 of them.
Some out- of- school musical institutions for preschoolers were formed during the after war years (there were 40 in 1985). Additionally, in the 1950-1960ies, palaces and houses of the Organization of Young Pioneers, Children Art Schools etc. were opened. In 1970-1980 the number of the Children Sports Schools was the biggest ( 57 in 1985).
By the law of education of Estonia (1974, new reduction 1986 ) the system consisted of the pre-school, general secondary, out of school, vocational, special and higher education.
The sovereignty of Estonia in the field of education was a fiction already in 1940-1941. The school system was observed from the point of view of the aims of the CP of the USSR as the former of the soviet ideas and educating of the obedient and indulgent workers. The CP proposed its directives at the congresses and plenums which were followed by the laws of the Soviet Union, and on their bases, the Republican educational ones and the decrees were generated. The ECP, whose task was to organize the following of the directions of the CP of the USSR in ESSR, lead the whole culture, incl. education and science by the corresponding departments, also by the state educational institutions and the party organizations of educational establishments. Some of the schools and establishments of the higher education were directly subordinated to the Soviet Union. So, we cannot speak about the local direction of the whole Estonian educational system. But in the fields where it was allowed, it was subordinated to the party and the government organizations of the Soviet Union. The organs of education of the Soviet Union directed the whole education of the ESSR through the Ministries and central departments of Estonia which belonged to their administrative field or directly, they also controlled the whole system. The work of teachers was valued by the percentage of scholastic proficiency and social activity, which lead to falling of the standard of teaching and studying motivation of students. Intemperate regulating , domination of the force methods, the approximately small amount of options, freeing pupils from responsibility and their weaning from home and parents was characteristic to the Soviet schools.
Due to the traditions of the Estonian school and pedagogical staff it was possible to save the local and national special characteristics. It was expressed in longer study course of the general educational schools ( except during 1958/65 when in the whole Soviet Union the course of the secondary school lasted for 11 years ), in the passing on of the tradition of choir singing and massive taking part in the national events, which can be considered a passive resistance of both pupils and teachers. Continuously, the updating of the communist and Soviet patriotic education was acute, which was always considered to be insufficient, because the ideology and the reality were inadequate.
During the era of Stalinism as well as during the new Stalinist pressure of the late 1970ies, subjects such as Estonian literature and language remained the center points of the programs. The education in mother tongue was considered the natural right of Estonians both by parents and students. The total Russification similar to the spirit of the end of 19 century could not be repeated but it was tried to carry out step by step. Active resistance to Russification of the students was expressed by secret organizations and the pupils unrest ( for example in spring, 1980).
The school system played an important part in the rising of the level of education of the citizens. In 1939, 161 people of 1000 ( from the age of 10) had higher, secondary or incomplete secondary education (in the Soviet Union 108), in 1979 630 ( in the Soviet Union 638 ). In 1970, special secondary, incomplete higher and higher education among the population made up 23,3%, in 1979 the number was 29,4% among the working population. The level of education in Estonia was also influenced by migration. In some aspects, quantitative indexes of the formal education were in correspondence with those of the developed states. Education helped to save the national identity, helped to form the professional structure of the citizens of Estonia ( incl. new generations of the intelligence ) which made the restoration of independence in a peaceful way possible. Simultaneously, it is obvious that to overcome the backwardness and rise the ability to compete, the educational system of the independent state needs renewing and reforming.