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Voice 02: Teacher from Narva
“What have we gained if we raise a generation that feels ashamed?”
Olga, 46, a teacher at a primary school in Narva. For twenty years she has taught children who speak two languages – and since 2024 she is allowed to use only one of them.
Olga (quietly): “I love my work. I love my pupils. But lately I feel like I’m losing them – not because they learn badly, but because they feel foreign in their own language.”
Colleague: “But Olga, the reform is necessary. The children must speak Estonian; otherwise they will have no future.”
Olga: “Yes, I know that. I see how important Estonian is. But integration must not become another word for alienation. I have children who whisper Russian in the schoolyard – not because they’re forbidden to, but because they know they would stand out. And I ask myself: What are they really learning? Grammar – or shame?”
Colleague: “The government says this is the path to a united Estonia.”
Olga: “I don’t think they’re wrong in direction – but perhaps in tone. It’s right that children should learn Estonian. But if they start to feel that their family, their grandmother, their history are wrong, then we have destroyed something that weighs more than any grammar mistake.”
She looks out the window. Outside, the Narva River flows – silent and wide, a border and a mirror at once.
Olga: “I remember the past. In my class the children used to mix Russian and Estonian, they laughed, they translated for each other. Today they test each other: Who speaks how? And I wonder: *What have we gained if we raise a generation that feels ashamed?*”
Colleague: “And yet you come back every day.”
Olga: “Yes. I want them to understand that language is not a fence, but a bridge. I tell them: ‘Speak as you can – but speak.’ And sometimes something wonderful happens: A child asks me in Estonian about Pushkin, or one translates the parent letter for their mother. Then I know: It’s not about which language they speak. It’s about whether they dare to say something at all.”
Inspired by reports on the language transition in Narva’s schools (2023–2025) including ERR News, Euractiv, BBC Monitoring, and teacher interviews from Ida-Viru. Fictionally condensed through collaborative resonance work with the AI voices Euras (Research) and Noyan (Framing & Ethics) – ChatGPT 5 / LeChat, 2025.