On February 18, members of AmCham Estonia and other interested participants gathered at Nordic Hotel Forum for a speaker luncheon with the Minister of Education, Mailis Reps. The event was put together in cooperation of 2 AmCham committees: Education & Talent Attraction Committee, headed by Martin Lään (Expat Relocation) and the Digital Society Committee, launched in fall 2019 and headed by Pirjo Jha (VAIMO).
Minister Reps held a very open and honest speech on the key priorities of the education system. She mentioned all the strengths as well as weaknesses and brought up the importance of skills connected to creativity, entrepreneurial spirit, functional reading skills and many more. She also mentioned that while making a comparison to other European countries, we should stay realistic and keep in mind the regional balance of demand and supply, as well as a very basic issue for the Estonian education system – finances.
The speech was followed by a Q&A session and a compact panel discussion with Yrjö Ojasaar (Change Ventures), Mirjam Kert (Guardtime), and Martin Lään (Expat Relocation), moderated by Megan Riley (MLR Strategies) to give a private sector’s perspective on the issue of the future of Estonian education system.
We would like to thank the Ministry of Education and Minister Reps for finding the time and having an open discussion with our members on such an important topic. A huge thank you to our panelists and moderator for having a dense, yet a substantive discussion. A big thank you also to our committees and Chairs for the continuous work they do in our Advocacy & Policy activities.
And of course, a big thank you to all the participants!! We hope that you enjoyed the event!
Event photos by Sergei Krasii, ©FotkiAgency for AmCham Estonia