Controversial Amendment to the Education Law Passes the Polish Parliament
Family protesting against the Lex Czarnek bill. Photo: Piotr Wójcik/Wyborcza.pl
On Feb. 9 the lower house of the Polish Parliament, Sejm, rejected the senate’s objection to an education law amendment colloquially known as “Lex Czarnek.” President Andrzej Duda will now cast the deciding vote for whether the highly criticized statute will pass or not. By signing the document, he will significantly expand the powers of the school superintendents, who are appointed by the Ministry of Education. These superintendents will become fully responsible for the appointment of school principals and become capable of laying off those whose policies are not supported by the ruling party, Law and Justice (PiS).
The amendment was firstly drafted at the request of Przemysław Czarnek, the Minister of Education. Czarnek wanted to “expand parents’ right to raise their children” by granting them the right to decide what kinds of independent organizations are allowed to teach their children in schools.
The minister highlighted the importance of “transparency and openness” in Polish schools and protecting children from “demoralization.” The project was initially rejected in the Sejm and returned to the Committee of Education and National Defense on Jan. 4. However, in the same month, a revised version of the bill passed the so-called Second Reading in the PiS-dominated Sejm and reached the tables of the more politically diverse senate.
As much as the senate’s rejection of increasing public school censorship and government dependence was anticipated, the Sejm’s reaction to it was not. Voting on the senate’s decision was never officially on the agenda of the 48th Session of the Sejm on Feb. 9.
At 4 PM, the Marshal of the Sejm, Elżbieta Witek announced a ten-minute break, after which she suddenly added the voting procedure to the agenda. Opposing voices in parliament did not stop Witek from carrying out the last-minute voting, which eventually resulted in the moving of the bill to the president’s table with a vote of 220-233.
Andrzej Duda (left) and Przemysław Czarnek (right). Photo: Grzegorz Jakubowski/Gazeta.pl
As school children, their parents, teachers and principals await the final decision, NGOs and activists continue to appeal to the president, emphasizing the censorship that the amendment would bring to the Polish schools and the lack of freedom, liberty, and democracy the alteration exemplifies. They are specifically concerned with limitations on sex education and information about LGBTQ+ rights and community that the bill would most likely create.
Considering past statements Czarnek has made, including repeatedly calling the LBGTQ+ community “an ideology” and describing its members as “unequal to normal people,” the politician poses a serious threat to the fostering of an open-minded and respectful future generation of Poles.
By March 1, the president must sign or veto the act. As discussed by Gazeta Wyborcza, a Polish daily newspaper, the only person that could potentially stop Duda’s signing is his wife, Agata Kornhauser-Duda, a former teacher. In the interview for Gazeta Wyborcza, she expressed concern over certain points made in the bill and promised to talk about them with her husband and Czarnek. In fact, a meeting between the three of them already took place; however, the public has yet to be informed what was discussed and what conclusions were drawn from it.