Education Minister Jussi Saramo has assigned 67.8 million euros to address education inequality as part of the Oikeus Oppia (Right to Learn) programme, a measure intended to promote quality and equality in early childhood, preschool and basic education.
The funding aims to strengthen equality in education by adding support, in particular, at schools located in areas where family circumstances and socio-economic factors may predispose them to worse learning outcomes.
"The foundation of Finland's wellbeing is threatened by the disparity in learning outcomes between rich and poor regions. The country cannot afford to waste any child or young person’s potential. Money and resources must be directed where they are needed, so that everyone can learn to the best of their ability," said Saramo.
The grant also aims to enable more individualised support when it comes to educating children and young people, and to help strengthen education in areas where learning outcomes are likely to be lower.
In pre-school and primary education, the funding could be used to hire extra teachers and assistants, and divide groups or classes into smaller sizes.
In early childhood education, more staff could be hired with the additional funding and group sizes could be reduced. Additionally, advance support for early childhood education and pre-school education would be increased.
