The storm surrounding the Ministry of National Education's decision. Katarzyna Lubnauer for "Wprost": They started the war.

Magdalena Frindt, Bartosz Michalski, "Wprost": The end of the school year is a time for reflection. What assessment would you give the Ministry of National Education for the past year?

Katarzyna Lubnauer, Deputy Minister of Education: " Teachers, parents, and students provide our grades. We won't be doing that. However, we can say what we've accomplished. For example, this year we developed the guidelines and core curricula for two new subjects."

A storm has broken out around Health Education .

Health Education replaces family life education and provides a comprehensive approach to issues related to human health—both mental and physical, including sexual health. This subject responds to new threats, such as those generated by the internet.

The second subject entering schools on September 1st is Civic Education. This is a harbinger of change ahead of the major education reform planned for 2026.

We have been working on it since April 2024. The Educational Research Institute is conducting substantive work, and the work on the core curricula for primary schools alone currently involves 200 experts in 22 teams, most of whom are practicing teachers. Over 30,000 teachers participated in the preceding consultations.

The already adopted Civic Education framework will incorporate not only theoretical knowledge but also practical aspects, such as a social project and practical tasks. A key element of this subject is the development of patriotic citizens. At the same time, Civic Education will have nothing to do with History and the Present, a subject with extreme partisan bias, promoted by the previous minister, Przemysław Czarnek.

Let's dwell on Health Education for a moment longer. You mentioned how valuable it is and how many important elements it contains. Why then shouldn't it be a mandatory subject?

We didn't want the ideological war to spill over from the Sejm into schools. We must protect teachers. With this decision, we will prevent situations where far-right activists would want to invade schools because they are outraged by the fact that the curriculum includes topics on the effectiveness of vaccinations or internet addiction.

Several months ago, Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski warned against the danger of "moral depravity of children and youth," which, in his opinion, health education carries. Other voices have also been raised about the need to "reject aggressive sex education."

Such accusations are completely misplaced. The team that created the core curriculum for Health Education included Father Arkadiusz Nowak. This subject and its principles are also vocally supported by Tomasz Terlikowski , a journalist whose views are right-wing. Health Education is a subject packed with knowledge, not ideological in nature. It is a vaccine that will teach children to defend themselves against the threats of the 21st century.

PiS and Confederation politicians are not convinced.

This subject, in terms of sexual health education, doesn't go beyond information provided in family life classes. However, it also touches on issues such as protecting children from online sexual abuse and where to seek help for mental health problems. The problem is serious. The "Children's Internet" report outlines the threats, and published data shows that one-third of children under 14 use pornographic websites.

Shouldn't this data even more support making Health Education a mandatory subject? And how much truth is there in the idea that your original course changed because Rafał Trzaskowski was running for president and you wanted to hush up a controversial topic?

I will repeat once again: we did not want to put teachers at risk.

Shouldn't the well-being of the children be the key?

We value parents' constitutional right to decide how to raise their children. We believe that parents will stand for their children's well-being and safety. And if so, students—even though Health Education will be an optional subject starting September 1st—will participate in these classes in large numbers. We believe that all parents who care about their children's well-being, and who take the time to read the Health Education core curriculum and understand that this subject will be taught by trained teachers, will not exempt their children from participating in these classes.

The campaign had no influence at all on the discrepancy between the announcements and the result?

The presidential campaign was one of the reasons some right-wing politicians unleashed a war on health education. However, in our view, health education has never been ideological in nature.

It's based on specific knowledge that every young person should possess to live a healthy and safe life. We're also finalizing work on a new core curriculum for physical education, as Health Education has absorbed some of the theoretical content.

Polish society is gaining weight, and so are children. Recently, there's been a lot of buzz about the idea of compensating for physical education indispositions . Does it actually involve taking a certain number of steps?

The idea is to activate children who, although they don't exercise during classes due to sick leave, are still required to be in the classroom. Therefore, it seems like a good idea for students to spend time, for example, walking around the playground and achieving a set step count, instead of sitting on a bench and staring at a phone screen.

You've listed the Ministry of National Education's successes, yet you refuse to give the ministry a specific assessment. Why?

I don't have that habit. No one should be subject to self-assessment, because it isn't entirely objective.

But you readily judge your predecessors, including Przemysław Czarnek. And you still do to this day.

PiS left a huge mess, and we've been busy cleaning up and fixing a lot of issues. 2025 marks the first year of the digital transformation policy, which ties in with the milestone of the National Recovery Plan, which should have been adopted in 2022. However, that didn't happen, and we've been left with an empty drawer by our predecessors, because what was prepared was useless.

We conducted extensive consultations, covering tens of thousands of different institutions, and the document we adopted in 2024 has been very positively assessed by virtually all stakeholders in the education system and has become the basis for major investments under the National Operational Programme (KPO) worth several billion złoty. The first tenders have already been announced. The Ministry of Digital Affairs is responsible for conducting them, and we, as the Ministry of National Education, are providing substantive support. This includes 735,000 various devices, including laptops and tablets, and 16,000 AI and STEM labs, which will be delivered to schools this school year.

We also did a lot to strengthen teachers' prestige. Przemysław Czarnek, in the twilight of PiS's rule, claimed that teacher raises higher than 12% would bankrupt the budget. Then, before the elections, he began promising 20%, but without providing any protection in the planned budget.

What did we do when we came to power? One of our first decisions was to raise teachers' salaries – 30% for tenured and certified teachers, and 33% for novice teachers. Salaries were raised again in 2025.

If you placed so much emphasis on strengthening the prestige of the teaching profession, why did the Polish Teachers' Union announce a protest alert?

The Law and Justice party (PiS) has led to such a pauperization of the teaching profession that we started from a low base. If, under the United Right government, the salary of a certified teacher fell dramatically compared to the average salary in Poland, then despite the changes we have implemented and the significant pay raises, teachers may feel that their expectations have not been fully met.

But the numbers don't lie. If we add up the education subsidy and the preschool subsidy from 2023, it amounted to PLN 66.4 billion. Currently, the total amount of educational needs in 2025 has been set at PLN 102.7 billion. Currently, state budget spending on education is 2.3% of GDP, compared to 1.87% under the Law and Justice party (PiS). All of this clearly demonstrates that education is our priority.

But teachers won't buy the argument that their current financial situation is the fault of the Law and Justice party (PiS). They demand that their standard of living improve now.

Over the two years of our government, pay raises for beginning teachers have cumulatively reached 40 percent, and for certified and tenured teachers – 36.5 percent. We are hearing new demands from this community, but the budget is not unlimited.

We are in constant contact with trade unions. Since we began working at the ministry, teams have been working on solutions that address the practicalities of the teaching profession. As a result of all these actions, we are introducing changes to the Teachers' Charter, including eliminating the so-called blackout period . Furthermore, there is the issue of retirement severance pay, which will increase from three times the final salary to six times, as well as the issue of anniversary awards after 40 and 45 years of service. We have also regulated the settlement of overtime hours.

Raises of 30 or 40 percent are a step forward, but it's also worth noting what the starting amount was. And then it becomes clear that this isn't the end of the story.

There's no dispute here; we understand that. But at the same time, it's important to realize that there's no third area—besides defense and education—where spending has increased so rapidly in the last two years.

You're talking about dialogue with the teaching community. The ZNP's demands are clear, and one of them is a 10% raise. If this doesn't happen, protests could begin.

We are in contact with them, but financial matters are not a matter of our will or inclination, but of the state's capabilities. Poland has one of the most expensive education systems per student, also due to the demographic situation. Approximately a quarter of the country's schools have up to 96 students. These small schools are valuable, but expensive.

Each side has dug in its heels and we're at a stalemate. Do you have a plan B if a protest breaks out?

I don't want to get into a what-if discussion. On September 1st, two important laws from the trade union perspective will come into force. I think this is a clear signal that we take this community and its demands seriously.

You spoke about the ministry's successes, but it is impossible not to mention the poll for "Wprost", in which Barbara Nowacka was considered the worst minister in Donald Tusk's government .

The way this poll was conducted favored – in a negative sense – those ministers who are recognizable.

But Radosław Sikorski was not even among the leaders.

Foreign ministers typically have higher ratings than heads of ministries responsible for matters affecting social functioning. However, Barbara Nowacka's ratings were influenced by her focus on rationalizing religious education in schools.

We decided to implement proposals that, contrary to appearances, are strongly supported by society. Although this topic is polarizing, research by the Public Opinion Research Center (CBOS) clearly shows that the vast majority of Poles support religion classes not being included in the average grade, being included in the first or last period, and also supporting the subject being taught in a reduced number of hours.

Our decisions were dictated by the need for students—regardless of their faith or lack thereof—to feel equally comfortable in a Polish school. At the same time, we fully respect that every parent has the right to decide whether their child participates in religious education classes. The letters from the Episcopate read in churches did not calm emotions. They were very damaging to Barbara Nowacka, thus casting her as an alleged opponent of a certain group of readers. As a reminder, these negative ratings were less than 14%.

In the case of religion classes, various paradoxes also occur.

Meaning?

In vocational primary schools, the current number of hours of religious education is six – two hours each week in first, second, and third grades. In the same type of school, the number of hours of mathematics instruction is five – in a two-two-one system. A few days ago, the Central Educational Commission published the results of the secondary school leaving examination. It turned out that only 14% of students in vocational secondary schools passed the examination.

We want Polish schools to be a welcoming place for every child, a place that allows them to fully realize their potential while respecting their values and the upbringing chosen by their parents. This is our guiding goal.

The Constitutional Tribunal ruled that the regulation of the Ministry of National Education regarding religious education classes is inconsistent with the Constitution and the Education System Act.

I'd prefer not to comment on the Constitutional Tribunal's verdict at all. I'll just remind you that it was delivered by a panel that included three former politicians, including Law and Justice MPs: Krystyna Pawłowicz, Bogdan Święczkowski, and Stanisław Piotrowicz. Therefore, the verdict announced is political in nature, not legal.

The Polish Episcopal Conference has a different opinion and called on the Ministry of National Education to comply with the law.

We abide by the law. And I will repeat once again: the verdict of such a composition and the Constitutional Tribunal functioning in this manner is pure politics.

Returning to the final exam results, this year 80% of students passed the final exam, while 15% failed in math. Recently, there was a petition to eliminate this subject from the mandatory matriculation exam.

Mathematics should be a compulsory subject in the Matura exam, and we don't plan to change anything. Basic skills in this subject are simply essential for functioning in the modern world.

The results of the eighth-grade exam were recently released. In this case, the average math score was 50%. How much truth is there in the idea that this could be attributed to optional homework?

This is complete nonsense.

Firstly, exam results are unfortunately incomparable year to year. Furthermore, for the first time in several years, the eighth-grade and high school final exams were conducted based on the core curriculum, rather than the significantly reduced exam requirements that were in effect from 2021 to 2024 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Polish language score was higher than last year, but that, too, cannot be compared.

We will evaluate the decision to make homework optional in primary schools . However, we will not conduct a comparative analysis of the eighth-grade exam results alone, but rather compare the results in two types of schools – those that have already eliminated mandatory homework and those that have made this decision in the past year.

It's also important to clearly emphasize that homework assignments haven't been banned, but rather a different form of homework. This isn't about a numerical grade, but rather feedback—what was done well and what needs work. Teachers who previously had optional homework assignments and didn't grade them, but did provide students with feedback on the quality of their work, note that students readily utilize this support.

When it comes to homework, another problem arises. It's difficult to grade something without being certain it's the student's own work. Modern technologies, including artificial intelligence, have opened a new chapter in this discussion.

Some time ago, you yourself made a mistake by invoking a non-existent article of the Penal Code.

I deleted that post. I have a rule that if I make a mistake, I admit it.

I was following one of Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski's recent communications with students from the International Space Station. Out of curiosity, I typed his name into Google, and the first result was provided by artificial intelligence. The information appeared that the Polish astronaut attended the 8th Adam Mickiewicz High School in Łódź. This is not true. The high school is named after Adam Asnyk. I caught the error immediately, as I once taught math at that school. But this example demonstrates the need to sensitize young people to the fact that artificial intelligence cannot be fully trusted.

How prepared are schools for students to treat artificial intelligence as one of the tools in their work?

This is precisely why grading homework is problematic, as it's impossible to determine whether the work was completed independently. Students also tend to be creative, sometimes making linguistic errors specifically when copying work they've generated using AI, so as not to raise teacher suspicions.

As for teachers, we're already raising awareness of the threats, but also the opportunities for development, thanks to AI. We're launching training courses under the European Funds for Social Development, which focus on topics including artificial intelligence. These will be aimed at 85,000 teachers – not just computer science teachers. The training will begin soon, and we'll also provide teachers with equipment they can use to teach how AI works.

You mentioned Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski. We recently spoke with Dr. Tomasz Rożek , founder of the "Nauka. To Lubię" foundation, who is very critical of the Ministry of National Education's actions in the context of harnessing the educational potential of the Ax-4 mission.

The Ministry of National Education, together with the Ministry of Development and Technology and the Polish Space Agency, has prepared a package of activities, including meetings with Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, during which the Polish astronaut connects from space and students can ask him questions. But that's not all. We have educational initiatives planned starting in September, and Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski will visit various schools.

I don't want to delve into personnel matters, but Dr. Tomasz Rożek's frustration likely stems from the fact that he wanted to be involved in the activities surrounding this mission, but perhaps wasn't. You'd have to ask the Ministry of Energy and Technology and the Polish Space Agency about that.

The "Nauka. To Lubię" Foundation developed a 100-page document, "Space Week," containing 70 lesson plans for primary school children. Dr. Rożek says that no government ministry was interested in using this material.

As a ministry, we do not employ specific entities; we simply announce open competitions. Entities wishing to conduct specific types of educational activities can participate.

In your opinion, the Ax-4 mission, in which the Pole is participating, is being fully utilized, taking into account the educational aspect?

We planned to connect all interested Polish schools and organize educational activities around the launch. Unfortunately, the launch was postponed until the end of the school year and the summer holidays. As you can see, it would have been much easier for us to carry out our activities if the mission had launched at the earliest possible date.

That is, at the end of May.

We were prepared to conduct educational activities during the school year, but as I mentioned, we also have a plan for activities starting in September. The participation of a Pole in the AX-4 mission is a historic event, and its uniqueness is inspiring for students and ignites their passions. Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski is excellent proof that through education, you can literally reach the sky.

When it comes to fostering passion, many programs developed by the Ministry of National Education also serve this purpose, such as "Explorers." PLN 30 million will be allocated to educational activities related primarily to natural science education, STEM, as well as astronomy and astronautics.

In 2024, for the first time, champions from all, not just select, international Olympiads and subject competitions, including science, met with the Prime Minister of Poland. We wanted to show them that they are important to us and that we appreciate their successes, and at the same time, that they can be a source of inspiration for the younger generation – just like Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski. We want to inspire young people.

Finally, let's get down to earth. As the school year draws to a close , there's been a lot of talk about report cards issued using the wrong format .

This issue affects more than a dozen schools nationwide. In early June, we notified all school boards that the 2023 regulations regarding the certificate issuance formula were still in effect. Either the principals, teachers, or IT specialists responsible for overseeing the printing of documents made a mistake.

We have also sent information to secondary schools to accept certificates regardless of any formal shortcomings, and students will be required to submit corrected documents, which will be issued to them by their home schools without suspending the recruitment process.

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