A total of 9,471 teachers across 330 schools in Estonia are taking part in a nationwide strike on Monday, the main teaching union said, Ednews informs.

The strike involves teachers at general education schools.

The Estonian Education Personnel Union (EHL) says the number of strikers is to nearly double to 18,000 once teachers at kindergartens and vocational schools join a solidarity strike, from Wednesday.

The EHL says that the breakdown of striker numbers are as follows:

In general education schools, 169 strikes have been declared involving 2,581 people out on strike.

Among younger learner educators, there will be 283 solidarity strikes, involving 5,566 people.

A total of 37 solidarity strikes among vocational schools and hobby schools are set to take place in support of the general education strike, totaling 558 strikers.

Overall, 819 strikes, both open-ended in terms of time-frame (ie. the general education teachers) and for a fixed term (involving mainly kindergarten and vocational school teachers), are due to take place, with 18,176 people due to go out on strike.

By region, the most populous area, Harju County, which includes Tallinn, will see 8,821 people on strike across all categories.

In Tallinn alone, 57 general education schools run by local government are taking part in the strike from Monday, with 2,917 teachers involved. In addition, 460 staff at general education schools are taking part in the support strike.

Only one school in the capital, Tallinna Kadaka Põhikool, a special needs facility, is not taking part in the strike.

A three-day solidarity strike involving kindergarten and vocational schools staff is due to take place from Wednesday to Friday. This will involve 2,058 staff from 106 kindergartens, plus 114 staff from four hobby schools; additionally, staff at the Kopli ametikool vocational school in North Tallinn are set to strike for two days, January 24-25.

The general education teachers' strike is open-ended in terms of time-frame, as things stand.