Poland: the conservative power wants to get their hands on schools
In a school in Warsaw, Poland, in January 2021 (Image illustration).
AFP - WOJTEK RADWANSKI
Text by: Sarah Bakaloglou Follow
3 min
Will Polish schools come under the control of the conservative power?
This is the fear of many associations, parents' committees and students.
The Minister of Education proposed a new law in early June.
It aims to reduce the autonomy of schools.
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From our correspondent in Warsaw
,
Several changes would strengthen state control over institutions.
First, the government wants to allow the superintendent, appointed by the state in each province, to choose the principal.
Until now, the opinion of the representative of the local authorities was also taken into account, which guaranteed a balance, the municipalities being largely controlled by the opposition.
Directors will be able to be suspended much more easily with this bill, if the superintendent wishes.
But that's not all.
This superintendent will be the one who accepts or not that non-governmental organizations intervene in Polish schools.
It will therefore no longer be the decision of the directors of establishments.
And this worries a lot because the Minister of Education, Przemysław Czarnek, is known among other things for his homophobic and misogynistic positions.
For him, people in the LGBT + community are not normal people.
He also recently denounced "
a disgusting scandal
" after schoolchildren were visited by an association working on the
rule of law
and civil rights in Poland.
Fighting "
the dictatorship of liberal opinions on the left
"
The Minister of Education wants to fight what he calls "
the dictatorship of liberal left opinions
", which dominate schools, and impose a more conservative vision, based on Christian values.
The minister, for example, called for using the teachings of Pope John Paul II.
He also wants to force students to choose either religion classes or ethics classes.
Which was optional in theory for now.
According to the Association of Polish Teachers, there are only 700 ethics teachers in the country. This is far too few and therefore catechists could fill in the gaps, the government predicts.
"
Pedagogy of shame
"
The
teaching of history
is also in the sights of the Polish government. The authorities want to put an end to "
a pedagogy of shame
", and to teach more what was positive in the past to "
be proud to be Pole
".
The mobilization against this reform project on education began in a way as soon as Przemyslaw Czarnek arrived at the Ministry of Education last October, especially on social networks.
A demonstration took place last week in Warsaw in front of the ministry, at the call of several associations.
The school year is now over in Poland, and the bill was announced just weeks before.
It remains to be seen whether it will be adopted at the start of the next school year and whether it will win the support of the majority as a whole.
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