Following Tuesday's negotiation session where Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's (NCP) government finalised next year's draft budget proposal, reactions to the budget dominated Finnish papers today.
According to a report by Ilta-Sanomat, the Trade Union of Education in Finland (OAJ) is "appalled" by the government's plan to make further cuts to vocational education. In spring, the government announced plans to cut vocational education funding by 100 million euros, and despite heavy protests, in the latest budget negotiations, it increased the cut by another 20 million euros.
"It is unacceptable that vocational education is being cut once again. The government's policy is at odds with the needs of the labour market and the goal of raising skill levels. There is a great need for skilled workers in areas such as technology and healthcare," said OAJ President Katarina Murto.
According to OAJ, the total cuts would be equivalent to reducing about 1,600 teachers.
Finnish Education Employers (FEE) association (Sivista in Finnish) also condemned the additional cuts.
"It is impossible for educational institutions to plan for the future when funding is constantly uncertain. Education was supposed to be exempt from savings, but the government has broken this promise regarding vocational education for the second time," said Director of Policy Heikki Kuutti Uusitalo in a statement.
Preserving Finnish language
The most widely read story on Helsingin Sanomat story featured Finnish youngsters who are challenging the dominance of English words in the Finnish language.
Lauri Lassila noticed what he considers a troubling trend — his friends increasingly struggle with finding the right Finnish terms and often resort to English or ask for translations. He pointed out anglicisms or English words or phrases directly adopted into Finnish: 'running joke' becoming juokseva vitsi or using steppi (step) instead of the Finnish equivalent, askel.
Together with friends Touko Kinnunen and Saaga Suonvieri, Lassila started a group called "Kivenkantajat" (Stone Bearers), dedicated to finding Finnish equivalents for English loanwords.
Kinnunen attributes this trend to a lack of pride in the Finnish language, seeing the dominance of English as a sign of surrender to American culture.
Although language naturally evolves and loanwords have always been part of this process, the group worries about the extent of English influence and how it may undermine the Finnish language.
They pointed out that Finnish youngsters replace words like Purilainen, kanansiipit and lounas with English versions like 'burger', 'wings' and 'lunch'. Instead of developing new Finnish words, there's a tendency to directly adopt English terms such as cancelointa for 'cancellation', smoothiet for 'smoothies'.
People may be hesitant to use new translations at first, Lassila admits, but told HS he has successfully introduced the term kyrnyty to replace "cringe", which he claimed has gained traction in his circle.
The group compared themselves to conservationists who are determined to preserve the Finnish language.
Finnish cities with clean air
Oulu, Tampere, and Helsinki ranked high in an evaluation of air quality conducted by the European Environment Agency (EEA), which assessed 372 European cities.
According to a report by Swedish language daily Hufvudstadsbladet, Oulu and Tampere are in fifth and sixth place, respectively, while Helsinki ranked twelfth.
Leading the list are Swedish cities, with Uppsala in first place and Umeå in second. Eight of the top 10 cities are in northern Europe, with Faro and Funchal in Portugal being the only exceptions.
According to the EEA, overall air quality in Europe has improved over the past 30 years. However, some cities still have air quality that can be harmful.
The city with the worst air quality in Europe is Slavonski Brod in Croatia, the country’s seventh-largest city, according to the ranking.
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