Is education under special protection?

This piece is a rejoinder to Minister of Education Anders Adlercreutz’s response to our earlier article .

Are the government’s value choices right?

Thank you to the Minister of Education for his extensive response to our article. We agree with the Minister that public finances must be strengthened and the economy balanced. The fact that this is being used as justification for cuts to vocational education and training is, in many ways, incomprehensible and also contradicts the objectives the government has set. A reduction of 11,000 student places and particularly the education cuts targeting people retraining, combined with the previously implemented abolition of adult study allowance, are at odds with the market’s need for vocational labour. The timing of the cuts also raises questions. Why cut before reforms whose cost implications have not yet materialised?

For example, the government reduced the taxation of ministers and the highest earners by 107 million euros.

In politics, it is always a matter of value choices: deciding where to invest and where to cut. While 120 million euros is being cut from vocational education, the government does find money for other things. For example, the government reduced the taxation of ministers and the highest earners by 107 million euros.

The cuts to vocational education were also justified by the argument that index increases have raised the absolute funding for vocational education. That is true, but for anyone who has done grocery shopping in recent years, it should be obvious that costs have also risen to record levels. Index increases, as their name implies, are simply a way of ensuring that funding levels keep pace with rising costs. They cannot be claimed to represent investment in education.

Investing in education is an investment in the future.

Do index increases make up for the cuts?

The government promised that education would be under special protection — it turned out otherwise. On the whole, the Minister of Education seems to have forgotten that investing in education is an investment in the future.

For a broader picture of education’s role in the municipality, see Education is the municipality’s most important task . Read more in the education category .

Authors: Johanna Fleming, Lauri Lavanti, and Paula Oittinen.

Published in Kirkkonummen Sanomat on 11 December 2024.