Summary

The principle of free compulsory education has been recognised in Estonia from the beginning of its existence, and at the very highest, constitutional level. In practice, however, despite the success of Estonian students (e.g. in OECD PISA tests), access to free, compulsory education has been problematic. Examples include the trend towards privatisation of education, and annual comparative charts and analysis in the press of the actual costs for parents of sending a child to school when one factors in the costs of school bags, uniforms, athletics clothing, indoor shoes, notebooks, pens and pencils, etc. There are also occasional reports of cases where schools have “agreed” with parents that they must help renovate the school or pay for toilet paper or drinking water, or contribute to a foundation established by the school to enable additional remuneration for teachers. The issue of payment for teacher supervised after-school programmes has also received significant attention, including in parliament.

In this article the author endeavours to identify the constitutional framework for free compulsory education. Due to the limited length of the article, the author has omitted pre-school, payment for upper secondary, vocational and higher education, choice of schools and education for children with special needs. First, the author explains the background of the fundamental right to education, both at the international and constitutional level. Secondly, the author examines the relationship between the right to free compulsory education and the obligation to attend school as a fundamental obligation, and thereafter focuses on the limits and definition of the right to free compulsory education as set out in Section 37 of the Constitution.