A new version of a system that allows grades and lesson plans to be viewed online has drawn criticism from parents who say the old system was scratched unnecessarily.

In particular, parents have pointed out that the new ekool.ee interface unveiled by a commercial developer has not been fully translated into Estonian yet.

In a country where parents of parents shoulder a significant part of the parenting load, the Grandparents Association joined the fray, calling for a number of practical improvements on September 9, such as an Estonian-language help documentation and being able to view grades with the click of a mouse.

"We wanted the best, but it came out as it always does," said Andres Ergma of the Grandparents Association on the decision to switch to a private company as developer.

Although some aspects of the interface may be a matter of taste, as an FAQ on the front page of ekool.ee suggests, Jaak Anton, information technology adviser at the Ministry of Education and Research said in Postimees on September 6 that the situation with the popular interface was "an unpleasant surprise."

Minister of Education and Research Tõnis Lukas summoned the developer, Koolitööde Ltd., for consultations on September 7.

Although some schools, including a few top ones, say they prefer direct face-to-face contact with parents, the e-school system has caught on in the past four years, with 440 schools joining the program. It is estimated that 350,000 people use the system.
http://news.err.ee/education/7a4276e6-2b80-423d-baa3-3f1a8a4c4c99