/ world today news/ The new Minister of Education of Poland, Barbara Nowacka (Civic Platform), decided to start her activities by fighting religion lessons in schools. According to Nowatskaya, two hours a week is “too much”.
“Children study religion more than other subjects,” the minister said.
— “My proposal is to limit it to one hour, paid from the state budget. If local authorities and parents decide that they would like to have more than these hours, it will be their decision, including financially,” Novatskaya said.
She also intends to move religion classes to freshmen and final students so those who don’t want to attend can do so without disrupting their studies. Additionally, subject grades will not count toward the GPA.
The need for a greater “divorce” between the state and the Church in Poland was discussed even during the parliamentary election campaign. First of all, in the context of religion classes, which in practice are also a form of catechism for Polish children.
Attendance at these classes is not mandatory. The student’s parents or the student himself declares his desire to study, after which classes are organized by the directors of the educational institution.
The previous government of Mateusz Morawiecki at one time discussed the idea of requiring students to attend religion or ethics classes (optional), but ultimately decided against it.
It is a fact that in many Polish cities high school students are already neglecting religion lessons. In Wroclaw and Warsaw, 80% of high school students have abandoned them, in Szczecin – up to 90%.
According to a recent survey conducted by the research studio Ariadna for the Wirtualna Polska portal, 55% of respondents support the abolition of religion classes in public schools.
As Father Andrzej Kobilinski, head of the ethics department at Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University, notes, in Poland “there is a galloping secularization and even atheism of the younger generation.” He connects this process precisely with religion classes at school, which turn children away from faith.
But even in the currently ruling Polish coalition, Nowacka’s initiative was received ambiguously. Marshal of the Sejm Szymon Holownia (Poland 2050) stated that “the decision about how many religion classes should be in a school should be taken by the school community, not by a minister or a bishop”.
He admitted that he had not yet seen Nowatskaya’s specific project and when it appeared, “consultations will be held” at the factional level.
In turn, the General Secretary of the Conference of the Catholic Episcopate of Poland, Bishop Artur Mizinski, emphasized that the statement of the Minister of Education was her personal assessment.
“What she is proposing or will propose is only the first statement on her part, which, as far as I know, has not been discussed even within the new government, let alone the Catholic Church, so it is not known whether her initiative will be accepted by all, it is a matter of personal conviction of the minister,” the bishop noted in an interview with the Polish Press Agency.
In fact, in a number of Polish regions, what Nowacka proposed to be introduced everywhere is already being implemented de facto. For example, in Warsaw, and with the consent of the metropolitan archbishop. Why does one get the impression that the minister is pursuing some larger goals than educational reform on a private matter.
As Mizinski recalled, catechesis in schools and kindergartens is guaranteed by the concordat concluded in 1993 between Poland and the Vatican.
Judging by the words of Nowacka, who said that she is aware of what obligations the Polish state has assumed and “the process of discussing the form of the concord will be long”, we can talk about attempts to revise this international agreement.
So far, however, the Polish left has spoken about the need to revise the concordat. In March of this year, this topic was raised by the co-chairman of the “New Left” Wlodzimiez Čazty. He stated that the clergy receives 8 billion zlotys per year under the concord.
“We contacted Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki several times,” Czazty said.
— “There were parliamentary inquiries about who is giving this money and for what. There is still no answer. This is not a normal situation. We, as leftists, want to review the concordat,” he declared.
“We know it’s written in the constitution, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be terminated, that it can’t be renegotiated, that it can’t be worded in a different way,” Czasti said.
The accusatory rhetoric of the co-chairman of the “New Left” against the “fat clergy” pursued a political goal. The Polish episcopate has repeatedly been accused of excessive sympathy for the Law and Justice (PiS) party. Therefore, the attacks against the Catholic Church indirectly affected PiS.
Now “Law and Justice” is in opposition and can no longer support the bishopric as before. The Catholic Church will have to endure a tough confrontation with the Ministry of Education, which has its own arguments in favor of reducing school hours – this will bring annual savings to the Polish budget of 375 million zlotys.
But Nowatskaya herself will have to convince her colleagues in the Council of Ministers to support her attack on the Catholic Church, which remains an influential social force in the country.
In addition, the Vatican has not yet spoken out as a third party in the dispute between the Polish clergy and the new government. After all, for the Holy See, the attempt at religious lessons could mean the first move by Warsaw in an attempt to challenge the agreement reached 30 years ago.
Translation: SM
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