Weakening state of basic education in Finland
If you were reading washingtonpost’s “Finland Diary” or any OECD education reports, you’d think that Finland’s education is the top in the world without hardly any problems whatsoever – But yesterday, Kokoomus, the conservative party of Finland, submitted an interpellation in Parliament over the weakening state of basic education in Finland and hopes that the whole opposition might join forces over the issue…
The party says that the Government’s policy has pushed the finances of Finnish municipalities into a state of crisis, forcing local authorities to cut costs in their most important basic services. Ben Zyskowicz says that cuts also target basic education, which he calls the backbone of Finnish competitiveness and the country’s future.
The party faults the Government for deciding to give up the stipulation in its own programme for channelling the savings resulting from smaller age groups into the development of the content of teaching.
The Finnish Teachers’ Union and the Finnish Association of Local and Regional Authorities have calculated that in real terms, the proportion of state funding for schools has declined from 57 percent to 45 percent.
