KRISTLIKE KOOLIDE ROLL LIBERAALSES ÜHISKONNAS EESTI NÄITEL
The Role of the Christian Schools in liberal society, Estonian example

Summary/Abstract: Most of the schools in Estonia are municipal schools and education is compulsory and free of charge until age 18. In recent years there has been a sudden rise in the number of Christian private schools. This article questions the role of Christian schools in Estonia as a secular society. The answer to that question emanates mainly from the interviews I have conducted with the boards of the schools. For the background I looked into the Gallup “Life, Religion and Religious Life” that was held in the year 2015 by the Estonian Council of Churches. In order to get a broader look, I describe similar discussions in Great Britain and Belgium. To summarise the outcomes from the interviews there were 4 themes that were emphasized a number of times: • Unity in values both at home and in school • Traditionalism that is known and secure • The freedom and security to talk about faith and religion • Christian perspective on human being In addition, we have to cope with the dead hand of the Soviet times, and as there is a lack of knowledge about how to pass on information concerning faith and religion or how to practise religious education at home, so the Christian schools have to fill the cap and also help the families. From the Gallup we can see that people still have a rather vague understanding of what is religious education or what is the concept of Christian schools. On the positive side we can see that people do think these schools need to exist as they enrich variety in our education. Most probably all the prejudgments come from unawareness. In comparison with Great Britain and Belgium we face rather similar questions even if they sometimes come from opposite directions. The main issues are how liberal and Christian values meet, what is the role of the parents/society, who should finance Christian schools, etc.

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