Schools shall consider the needs of the society and the labour market upon organising vocational, professional and occupational training, and continuing vocational training. Schools which provide the opportunity to study on the basis of both basic and secondary education also operate pursuant to this Act. This Act regulates the activities of state and municipal schools. This Act applies to private schools in so far as the Private Schools Act does not provide otherwise. State schools for national defence and state schools for public defence are state agencies administered by the Ministry of Defence or the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Municipal schools are local government agencies.
The language of instruction in schools is Estonian. The Minister of Education shall decide on the use of other languages as languages of instruction.