Jaakko Itälä (1933–2017) was a Finnish politician. He served as the

minister of education An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

for two terms in the 1970s. He was also a member of the

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

and head of the Liberal People's Party.

Early life and education

Itälä was born in Porvoo on 7 May 1933. He graduated from the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

receiving a degree in economics. During his university studies he was a contributor to the student newspaper ''

Ylioppilaslehti ''Ylioppilaslehti'' (Finnish language, Finnish: lit. "Student newspaper") is a Finland, Finnish student magazine founded in 1913. It is the largest student paper or magazine in Finland with a circulation of 35,000 copies. In addition to affairs r ...

''.

Career and activities

Following his graduation Itälä founded a middle school in Yläne and directed it. He became an advertising manager and textbook editor at the publishing house K. J. Gummerus in 1958. He continued to write articles in various publications often dealing with the education reform. In the 1960s Itälä became the general secretary of the school reform committee which developed a model for the elementary schools and headed the committee in late 1960s. During his term he contributed to the basic education reform in Finland. In 1968 Itälä was named as executive director of the Mannerheim Children's Protection Association. Itälä served as minister of education for two terms: from 1970 to 1971 and from 1978 to 1979. He was elected to the Parliament in 1979 obtaining the second highest vote nationwide in the

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

. He served at the Parliament until 1983. He led the Liberal People's Party between 1978 and 1982. Itälä was the secretary general of Mannerheim Children's Protection Association from 1990 to 1997.

Personal life and death

He married Helena Itälä, a psychologist, in 1956. They had two children. He died at the age of 84 in Helsinki on 9 November 2017.

Honors

Itälä was named an honorary doctor by the University of Helsinki's Faculty of Philosophy in 1990.

References

External links