Minister of Finance Riikka Purra published a proposal for the state budget yesterday, bringing forward high-handed and negligent cuts to education. These must not be allowed. The other parties in the Finnish Government must stop the Finns party from using the Ministry of Finance to run its own political agenda and rescue what is left of their promise of special protection for education.

Minister Purra’s proposals would have catastrophic consequences for education, learning and research. She proposes freezing the indices that secure the level of basic funding and pushing RDI investments somewhere into the future. In addition, she proposes abolishing the Finnish National Agency for Education. Cuts to central government transfers to municipalities would mostly primarily be felt in basic education and early childhood education and care.

“The government’s promise of special protection for education is already tainted. If the cuts proposed by Purra to higher education institutions, education organised by municipalities and the Finnish National Agency for Education are implemented, the special protection of education will become a legendary joke in Finnish political history,” says Anselmi Auramo, President of SYL.

Purra claims that she is aiming to balance the Finnish national debt ratio and produce economic growth, but clearly those objectives cannot be achieved by cuts to education and research. Education, research and innovation are key drivers of growth, and investing in them is vital for the recovery of the Finnish economy.

The abolition of the Finnish National Agency for Education and the integration of its functions into the Ministry of Education and Culture would significantly interfere with the autonomy of education, enabling, for example, the political guidance of curricula. Such developments are unacceptable in a democracy.

With her proposals, Purra flouts other government parties, the jointly agreed Government Programme and the economic growth target set in the mid-term review.  SYL demands that the Chairs of the other government parties step, contain Minister Purra and reject the Minister’s proposal as basis for budget negotiations.

Further information:

Anselmi Auramo
President, SYL
+358 45 647 1116
anselmi.auramo@syl.fi