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 | Speeches | | |
President of the Republic at the inauguration of the Viluste Basic School on 26 October 200126.10.2001
Dear County Governor!
Dear ministers!
Dear people of Viluste and dear children!
Today - at the opening of the new schoolhouse here at Viluste, where intellectual light has been handed out for more than 230 years already, I would like to remind you of the speech of Dr Jakob Hurt, great Estonian man from Himmaste, at our first national song festival in 1869. As we remember, Hurt expressed three wishes in that programmatic presentation, all of them related to education. Firstly, he wished that the people that had become free of serfdom would actively participate in - according to Hurt's words - "daily cultivation of the mind", particularly by reading instructive literature. Secondly he wished that an educated Estonian would not look over the shoulder at his people, would not leave his home neighbourhood and the country but would remain an Estonian man in all situations. Thirdly, Hurt wished that an Estonian would not remain satisfied with just the municipal and parish school but would found also schools of higher levels and continue his studies there.
The words of Hurt have not lost their meaning at all, although our network of schools is apparently effectively functioning and we could be glad about the great rush to higher educational establishments and universities every year.
Alas, not everybody has been so lucky as here at Viluste, where the school gets a new jacket, where seeking wisdom will be much more convenient and secure from now on. There are places where schools have had to be even closed. And each such closure has also meant gradual vanishing of life from that village or rural municipality.
The opportunity for Estonia to continue as a nation is contained in the quality of education and securing equal opportunities for getting education. Estonia needs only very good schools, with very good teachers and graduates who want and are able to continue their studies. This is why we are all glad about your school. Good schools are needed all over Estonia, not only in big cities. We have to create equal opportunities for both rural and urban areas. Estonia has to develop in an integral manner. Our nation is small and we cannot afford to deprive any young people of good education.
For our times, I regard particularly relevant the wish of Jakob Hurt that educated Estonian would not leave their home neighbourhoods, let alone Estonia. Unfortunately it is often so that after the completion of education, people return home only to visit their parents or to meet schoolmates or classmates. It surely does not depend on the school whether most of its students will continue the advancement of life in the home neighbourhood or not. It is an issue of the regional policy of the entire state whether people have enough work and motivation for living in their home village, municipality or county also after the completion of higher-level schools and acquisition of a profession. In order to prevent young people from leaving their home neighbourhood it is necessary to favour local business activities. Connection roads with centres have to be also so secure that even a family living in the most distant part of Estonia would not feel cut off from the big world.
We have to admit that we are not rich in oil shale or phosphorite but in the intellectual heritage that we get from our parents and from the school. Today, opening the school here with you at Viluste, I am glad to see that one seed from our common riches finds fertile soil in this new schoolhouse. A schoolhouse has to be the centre of the surrounding area where one can always also come in the evening, where hobby clubs are operating and people go in for sports. You have these opportunities now, make use of them. Let the light not go out in this building for children, their parents or teachers.
A bright student cannot develop without a wise teacher. I would like to thank your teachers here and before you. It is often so that students realise the greatness of the work of their teachers only later in their life, when they actually need the lesson that seemed so unnecessary at school. Skills of a teacher are measured with his students, capability of students is shown by the advancement of life and life has to develop further continuously. The work of a teacher has to continue over the ages.
I wish all of you a deep furrow when ploughing the educational field! Take care of your school, take care of your home neighbourhood!
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