The Tallinn City Hall approved the dismissal of the director of the Kesklinna Russian Gymnasium, Sergey Teplov. The Tallinn Department of Education urgently terminated the employment contract with the school director due to a loss of trust; Teplov's last working day was December 3.
In early December, the publication Postimees reported that the reason for the dismissal of member of the Center Party Teplov was systematic violations during the transition to Estonian-language education.
"At the Tallinn Kesklinna Russian Gymnasium, classes were taught by people who did not possess the required level of proficiency in the Estonian language. An open competition will be announced for the position of director," said Kaarel Rundu, head of the Department of Education, to Postimees in early December.
According to Alexey Yashin, Tallinn's vice mayor for education, who left his post in early December due to a change in city leadership, numerous inspections by the Ministry of Education and Science and the Tallinn Department of Education revealed serious violations at the school.
The Ministry of Education pointed out significant problems related to the transition to Estonian-language education. Other complaints were also received.
"A number of teachers who did not possess the required level of proficiency in the Estonian language were employed as laboratory assistants or other specialists, which in itself is not a violation. However, the classes that, according to documents, were supposed to be taught in Estonian by certain teachers were actually conducted by others who did not have the necessary language skills, and these classes were held improperly," Yashin commented.
"There are cases where in some schools teachers who do not speak Estonian continue to work as assistants or laboratory assistants, but they do not bear the responsibility or obligation to conduct classes that are supposed to be in Estonian. Inspections at both state and city levels revealed many such cases in this school," he added.
City authorities are convinced that this is not an accident, but a consequence of the school's management decisions.
"For the school itself, this is a difficult situation, as this gymnasium has shown good results; it is a very good school, and its teachers and director have done a lot of good. But this is the only case where so many problems have been identified during the transition to Estonian-language education. These violations must be eliminated in accordance with the law. I am confident that there are many strong teachers and administrative members in the school, and they will cope," said Yashin.
Teplov has been in charge of the Tallinn Kesklinna Russian Gymnasium since 2009.
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