Is the Ministry of National Education “investigating” the implementation of compulsory schooling?
In July, Polish media were shocked by the ban on children going on vacation during the school year. All thanks to the statement by Deputy Minister of Education Katarzyna Lubnauer, who, as a guest on Radio ZET, stated that the ministry was “looking” for possible ways to better enforce compulsory education.
– We often hear from teachers and principals that parents treat school as a place where their child may or may not attend. – said the minister, adding that this was detrimental to students and that the ministry would “analyze” the matter to decide which solutions to adopt.
On July 12, the Ministry of National Education published a post on the X platform with a quote from Deputy Minister Lubnauer, who said on Wirtualna Polska’s “#Tłit” program that “At the moment, there is no legislative work underway to introduce restrictions on children’s travel during the school year. We never planned to introduce in Poland the kind of restrictions that exist in other countries.”
Expert: “This is a terrible idea”
Therefore, legislative work is not currently underway. This does not mean, however, that the Ministry of National Education has stopped “investigating” this issue. According to the expert, emerging ideas include: considering a child’s departure during the school year as an unjustified absence will only confirm the oppressive nature Polish school.
– The idea of a top-down recognition that a child’s absence during the school year is an unjustified absence is, to say the least, very regrettable. Today, we can already hear opinions that Polish schools are oppressive, that they encroach too much on the sphere of freedom and violate the right of parents to raise their children according to their own beliefs. – notes Dr. Patryk Kuzior, assistant professor at WSB University, in an interview with Gazeta Prawna.
Compulsory schooling and the number of children in education
According to Dr. Patryk Kuzior, the introduction of restrictions in this area can only increase the number of children being homeschooled.
–It is for these reasons, among others, that many parents are looking for ways to remove their children from the system, as can be seen in the rapidly increasing number of children being home-schooled. I believe that the issue of justifying a student’s absence should be a matter for agreement between the parents and the school, or more precisely, between the parents and the teacher.– says Dr. Patryk Kuzior and adds that there is no real problem.
– Of course, abuse and distortion can always occur, but this must be subject to individual assessment and existing regulations allow for an appropriate response. However, I have difficulty accepting that the departure of the child with the parents is in progress. school year for a few days, especially when the child recovers later, this is a real problem that requires special solutions. I think the Ministry of Education should instead focus on other problems related to the implementation compulsory education– says Dr.
