Barbara Nowacka, Minister of Education, stated that the regulation of her ministry regarding religion classes does not change the provisions of the concordat, therefore an agreement with the church is not needed. – We are not questioning the concordat, which assumes that religion classes are to be organized by the school, we are only talking about their scope – she said. She added that she considered this topic to be over.
On December 9, a meeting of the Joint Commission of Representatives of the Government of the Republic of Poland and the Polish Episcopal Conference on religion lessons was held at the KEP secretariat in Warsaw. In the message, the church announced that no agreement had been reached. The Episcopate announced that it would take further legal action in the event of violations of applicable regulations.
According to Nowacka, the regulation MEN does not change the provisions of the concordat, therefore in this case “an agreement with the church is not needed.” – This concerns the organization of religion classes, not the fact of their existence. We are not questioning the concordat, which assumes that religion classes are to be organized by the school, we are only talking about their scope, she said.
She emphasized that the ministry invited the church to dialogue, but it presented “increasingly far-reaching expectations.” – It would be very difficult for the government to take this into account – she said.
Nowacka: dialogue is important, but it is not always possible to reach an agreement
According to Nowacka, the KEP expected the ministry to withdraw from all previous regulations on combining groups into inter-class divisions and not including religion and ethics in the average grade. – There were also expectations that religion and ethics would be compulsory subjects. There are no such plans, never have been. Even the previous government did not decide to make religion and ethics a compulsory subject, she noted.
According to the head of the Ministry of National Education, making religion and ethics compulsory subjects would mean “burdening young people”, and the ministry rather wants to relieve them. – This is unacceptable – she said. Nowacka noted that “dialogue is important, but it is not always possible to reach an agreement.”
– If one side believes that it has the right to veto, then we do not agree with the Episcopate's right to veto the regulations of the Ministry of National Education – she said. She said that “the topic of religion lessons is over.” – When the position of the Church does not change, i.e. (the church side – ed.) sets the condition that religion or ethics must be compulsory and then we will gradually be able to limit religious lessons, it does not seem possible to us, because this is blocking the government's actions, which it is neither legal nor necessary, she said. Nowacka noted that parents, children and religious teachers “need to know what awaits them in the next school year.”
– Here is my great appeal to the episcopate. We are preparing opportunities for catechists to acquire additional competences. But it is the Episcopate that delegates catechists, so I would like them to get involved and support employees with retraining opportunities. The sooner they receive information about what awaits them, the better and more effectively they will be able to prepare for it, she said.
The head of the Ministry of National Education expressed hope that “the Church will not leave its employees alone.”
Project on religion
According to the July amendment to the regulation of the Ministry of National Education on the organization of religion lessons, the school (kindergarten) principal will be able to more easily combine groups of children from different age groups and classes during religion lessons. In turn, from the next school year, religion and ethics teaching in public schools will take place for one lesson per week, before or after compulsory educational classes. This is the assumption of the project submitted for consultation. Currently, religious education in public schools is organized for two lessons per week, and when it comes to ethics, the weekly number of hours is determined by the school principal.
After the meeting of the Joint Commission of Representatives of the Government of the Republic of Poland and the Polish Episcopal Conference, the church announced that its proposals included, among others: “introducing the principle of obligatory teaching of religion or ethics due to the need for axiological formation of students.” In addition, she also proposed a “gradual, spread over time, reduction of the scope of religious education in secondary schools, while respecting the employment rights of catechists.” “The situation in primary schools should remain unchanged,” it added.
The church also opposed the government's proposed reduction of religion classes to one hour a week. In her opinion, “it is unjustified and discriminatory to adopt the principle that religion classes should be held before or after other school activities.”
“The changes being implemented, in the opinion of the church, will result in the destruction of the religious education system in Polish public schools,” the statement said.
Main photo source: PAP/Albert Zawada