Amendment to the Regulation on Education of Students from Ukraine
This Saturday, August 31, 2024, the Regulation of the Minister of Education of August 26, 2024 amending the Regulation on the organization of education, upbringing and care of children and youth citizens of Ukraine will come into force.
– This is an act that, among other things, allows to increase the number of classes in school and kindergarten students from Ukrainewho arrived on the territory of the Republic of Poland after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine – explains Michał Łyszczarz, author of a commentary on the Education System Act, an expert in the field of education law and local government, in an interview with Gazeta Prawna.
The most important provisions concerning the education of students from Ukraine
The most important provisions of the law include guidelines on class sizes for Ukrainian children and students.
Amendment among others, it determines that in the academic year 2024/2025:
- the number of children in a kindergarten class cannot be increased by more than three children who are citizens of Ukraine,
- the number of students in a class of grades I to III of primary school cannot be increased by more than four students who are citizens of Ukraine,
- the number of children in an integrated preschool education unit and an integration unit in a regular kindergarten and the number of pupils in an integrated school unit and an integration unit in a regular school may be increased by no more than two children or pupils with disabilities who are citizens of Ukraine,
- the number of students in an educational group in a special educational and educational center or in a special educational center may be increased by no more than two students with disabilities who are citizens of Ukraine.
Why does the change appear so late?
Why change appears shortly before the new school year? This is not known. However, it is known that its provisions are a continuation of the solutions in force in the last school year.
– Amendment does not introduce innovative solutions in this area, it merely copies the existing regulations, extending their validity for the next academic year – observes Michał Łyszczarz and asks why the change appears at the last moment, practically just before the start of the school year?
–This law is extremely important for schools, kindergartens and institutions, because it determines how many students will be in school and kindergarten groups, and this in turn affects how many groups there will be. In turn, the number of classes determines the number of teachers needed, so we can agree that this is an act that fundamentally affects the planning of the work of schools, kindergartens and educational institutions. – explains the expert.
Expert: “This is one of the symptoms of the deteriorating situation in education”
According to the expert, this situation is one of the symptoms of the worsening situation in education.
– Ordinance It comes into force on August 31, but was signed a few days earlier, on August 26. It should be noted here that the basic planning document in schools or kindergartens, that is, the organization sheet, must be submitted to the managing entity by April 21 and approved by the managing entity by May 29 of each year. So, how can a spreadsheet be created if regulations that directly impact the functioning of educational units are adopted at the last minute? – asks Michał Łuszczarz.
The expert notes that this approach by the Ministry of Education is a lack of respect for the work of schools.
– Of course, one could argue that nothing prevents you from adopting an annex to the form, so why all the fuss? The point is that all parties to educational legal relations treat each other seriously. If schools are supposed to submit planned worksheets in good time, why does the Ministry of National Education feel so comfortable planning its own work? All the more strange is that the change does not open doors and was not too complicated to draft. In my opinion, this is one of the symptoms of the deteriorating situation in education.– says Łyszczarz.
