Estonian MP goes to court against ministry over information on schools

Photo: TOOMAS HUIK/PM/SCANPIX BALTICS

 MP Jevgeni Ossinovski from the Social Democratic Party who requested from the Ministry of Education and Research various data on schools in connection with the switch to partly Estonian-language instruction at the high school level has turned to court because in his opinion the ministry did not release enough information.

Ossinovski asked last fall for information about the analyses done by the ministry of the transition to Estonian instruction. "The ministry's reply listed all the studies commissioned from universities together with references and descriptions. The reply mentioned that in addition to commissioned analyses the ministry has closely cooperated with school leaders who constantly conduct analyses for themselves and have provided the ministry with their overviews. Ossinovski wanted to see the documents sent by schools," spokesman for the ministry Asso Ladva explained the background of the dispute.

According to Ladva, the ministry compiled an extensive detailed summary of the analyses sent by schools and added to it a list of the schools that had provided the data. The only thing that cannot be found out from the summary is which particular school reported which success story or problem. "The ministry remains of the opinion that since this was a work process, not official oversight, the papers are classified as working documents of the ministry, such an agreement had previously been reached with school leaders as well. Furthermore, the overviews contain descriptions which in addition to schools' names include the names of concrete teachers and students, all of which had been removed from the summary forwarded to the parliament member," the spokesman said.

Ossinovski was not satisfied with the ministry's explanations about restricting the disclosure of certain information and he asked the Data Protection Inspectorate to issue a precept to the ministry, but the data protection watchdog sided with the ministry. The lawmaker then sued the inspectorate, seeking repeal of its ruling and issuance of an order to the ministry to release the information. The complaint is pending in the Tallinn Administrative Court.

Ladva said the ministry has throughout the process of transition to partly Estonian instruction in Russian-medium high schools sought to maintain a businesslike and constructive atmosphere and minimize any political interference. "This because it is very important for substantive work to avoid political manipulation with the above-mentioned summaries," he stated.