LETTER FROM WARSAW

When the democratic forces returned to power in Poland in December 2023, following eight years of populist politics by the nationalist Law and Justice Party (PiS), the expectations of civil society were immense. After the restoration of law, it was the education system changes, undoubtedly, that were the greatest hope. It was also in this area that the Democratic coalition – although very heterogeneous, ranging from the left to the conservative peasant party – had made the most concrete promises of reform.

Since then, Polish schools have come a long way. The previous Minister of Education, Przemyslaw Czarnek, an outspoken fundamentalist Catholic, had become the embodiment of a reactionary push at school. The man who didn't hesitate to compare the European Union to a system "worse than the Soviet Union" said about LGBT+ people, "We have to stop listening to this nonsense about so-called human rights or so-called equality. These people are not equal to normal people." And with women affected by late pregnancy, he felt that they were "not doing what God created them to do."

But in the face of an outcry from teachers, the PiS's attempts to centralize the education system and promote traditionalist values largely failed. Political pressure was nonetheless heavy, leading to a form of self-censorship on the part of the teaching profession. The superintendents of education, the state representatives responsible for overseeing the education system at a regional level, exerted real coercion on school heads.

The depoliticization of the system, a key promise of the Democrats, is now underway. The superintendents have all been fired by the Minister of Education, Barbara Nowacka. The atmosphere at school has changed: The 2024 edition of Rainbow Friday, an informal day of action scheduled every October by students to raise social awareness of the situation of LGBT+ people, took place in a serene atmosphere, whereas in previous years it had taken on the character of an almost clandestine action.

Against the agreement

Nowacka has made no secret of her secular convictions on schooling in a country where the clergy still retains considerable influence. One of her first battles was to reduce the number of hours of catechism, from two to one per week, noting the considerable drop in enrolled pupils, from 93% of high school students in 2010 to 54% in 2022. This decision has also earned her a cut-throat legal and media battle with the clergy and Catholic organizations, who considered the measure to run counter to the concordat signed between Poland and the Vatican in 1993.

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