Purra seeks to dismantle education agency after Finns Party ‘woke ideology’ claims
Finance Minister Riikka Purra (Finns Party) outlines the main points of her budget proposal following internal budget negotiations at the Ministry of Finance in Moisniemi, Espoo, on 6 August 2025. Photo: Antti Aimo-Koivisto / Lehtikuva
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Finance Minister Riikka Purra has proposed dismantling Finland’s National Agency for Education, triggering concern over the future independence of school curriculum development and the role of political influence in education policy.
The proposal, announced on Wednesday as part of Purra’s 2026 draft budget plan, would see the agency’s functions transferred to the Ministry of Education and Culture. The move would end OPH’s status as an independent expert body.
“It was a complete surprise, and a bit of a shock,” said Minna Kelhä, Director General of OPH. “Especially since a major consolidation of education administration is already in progress, approved by Parliament just before the summer break.”
That restructuring project aims to reduce the number of education agencies from ten to five by early 2026, a plan Kelhä said is already designed to deliver administrative savings.
OPH currently holds a central role in Finland’s education system, responsible for preparing national curricula and providing expert guidance. Its independence from political control has long been seen as a safeguard against shifting party agendas.
“Transferring all legislative preparation, implementation, and development under one political ministry would inevitably have an effect,” Kelhä said.
The move comes amid repeated criticism of OPH from within Purra’s own party. In June, seven MPs from the Finns Party, including deputy chair Teemu Keskisarja, accused the agency of promoting “woke ideology” through its public materials.
Their joint statement condemned the use of terms such as “anti-racism,” “microaggressions,” “white normativity,” and “cisnormativity” on OPH’s website, calling it “intersectional pseudo-information” and claiming it damaged the agency’s credibility.
“It cannot be that the leading expert agency in Finnish education is producing such fashionable nonsense,” the MPs said.
Joakim Vigelius, another deputy chair, told Yle’s Ykkösaamu programme on Thursday that OPH had overstepped its role by issuing guidelines that limit teachers’ freedom to design lessons.
“Teachers in Finland have wide autonomy, but OPH has tried to interfere with how they teach,” Vigelius said, without citing specific examples.
He also accused the agency of failing to address declining academic performance and the overuse of smartphones in classrooms.
“Over the last 10–20 years, learning environments have become worse. OPH should have been responsible for improving them,” Vigelius said.
While Purra’s draft budget frames the closure of OPH as part of a wider effort to find €1 billion in state savings, Kelhä said the agency’s removal is unlikely to make a financial difference.
“If OPH’s services are still expected to be delivered, even under a new structure, then this won’t result in significant savings,” she said.
Kelhä also questioned the timing of the move, given that the agency consolidation process is already under way and set to take effect at the start of 2026.
“We’re just beginning that transition, so it seems unreasonable to start over with a new change in the same timeframe,” she said.
So far, OPH has received no official details on the reasoning behind the proposal or what practical changes it would bring. Without further information, Kelhä said it remains unclear how such a move would be implemented, or justified.
HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi