All children staying in Poland have a constitutional right to education. Education is mandatory until the age of 18. It is provided to asylum-seeking children in regular schools and it is not limited by law. Asylum seekers benefit from education in public schools under the same conditions as Polish citizens until the age of 18 or the completion of higher school.[1] In September 2023, 755 asylum-seeking children attended 184 public schools and kindergartens in Poland. 192 among them lived in the reception centres, mostly in Białystok, Łuków and Bezwola.[2]
There are various obstacles to accessing education in practice.[3] The biggest problem is a language and cultural barrier. However, asylum-seeking children are supported by:
- Polish language courses that are organised in all reception centres;
- Additional free Polish language classes should be organised by the authority managing the school that asylum seekers are attending. Those classes are organised for a maximum period of 24 months[4]not less than 2 hours a week but max. five hours per week for one child;
- Basic supplies that are necessary for learning Polish.[5]
Asylum-seeking children can also participate in compensatory classes:
- in reception centres;
- in schools – assistance granted for a maximum of twelve months, max. five hours per week for one child.[6]
According to the Office for Foreigners, in 2023, 320 children were supported in the reception centres in learning Polish by assisting them with homework and compensatory classes. Moreover, 274 children who were about to start school or already started it, took part in the classes preparing them to enter Polish education system.[7]
Overall, Polish language and compensatory classes in schools are considered insufficient. They are either not organised at all or organised for an insufficient amount of time (the limitation of the duration of the support to 5 hours a week is criticised). Moreover, they are not adapted to the individual needs of foreign pupils.[8] At the end of 2023, the Supreme Audit Office informed that in 27 out of 28 schools that it monitored additional Polish language classes were organised. However, it was discovered that nearly 45% of these classes were organised improperly.[9]
Furthermore, asylum-seeking children should receive the allowance ‘Good start’ (PLN 300 or around EUR 64) that according to the law should be granted once a year for every child that begins a school year in Poland. However, SIP informs that asylum seekers have problems with receiving this support.[10] In 2020, the Supreme Administrative Court confirmed that asylum-seeking children should have access to the ‘Good start’ allowance. However, in each single case court proceedings must be initiated for an asylum-seeking child to have a chance to receive such allowance.[11] SIP continuously highlights that access to the ‘Good start’ allowance is still very difficult for asylum seekers.[12]
Schools admitting foreign children often have to cope with a lack of sufficient financial means to organise proper education for this special group of pupils. Moreover, teachers working with foreign children are not receiving sufficient support, like courses and materials.[13] However, some training initiatives are taken up by local and governmental authorities as well as NGOs.[14] For example, in the period of 2020-2023, over 4,000 teachers had some kind of training on working with foreign pupils.[15]
If a child cannot enter the regular education system e.g. due to illness, their special needs are supposed to be addressed in a special school. At the end of 2023, 4 asylum-seeking children were attending a special school.[16]
NGOs inform that asylum seekers most often complain about the hate speech that their children encounter in school, both from their peers and the staff. The Supreme Audit Office informed in 2020 that 23% parents that they interviewed declared that their children have met with intolerance in school once or twice a year, according to 4% of respondents it was occurring often.[17] Recent research on the matter was not available at the time of writing.
To sum up, the current education system does not take into account the special needs of foreign children. As a result, the adaptation of the education programme to the needs and abilities of the individual child is dependent on the goodwill and capacity of teachers and directors. Moreover, as a factor impeding effective teaching, schools also report the problem of the big fluctuation of the foreign children. Consequently, asylum-seeking and refugee children are disappearing from the Polish education system.[18]
In 2022-2023, the large influx of Ukrainian pupils additionally strained and challenged the Polish educational system (see Temporary Protection, Access to education).[19]
Preparatory classes
Since 2016, schools have a possibility to organise preparatory classes[20] for foreign children who do not have sufficient knowledge of the Polish language, including asylum seekers. A foreign minor can join preparatory classes anytime during the school year. After the end of the school year, his participation in those classes can be prolonged, when needed, for maximum one more year. The preparatory classes last for 20-26 hours a week. If a school decides to organise such classes, foreign children are not obliged to participate in regular classes. In March 2022, the number of maximum pupils in a preparatory class was raised from 15 to 25 minors and the minimum number of hours for learning the Polish language during a week was increased from 3 to 6 hours.[21]
Preparatory classes have been criticised since their introduction into the Polish education system. Some of the main points of criticism are mentioned below. Firstly, children are placed exclusively in foreign classes, thus impeding their integration into Polish society and fuelling separation.[22] Secondly, the preparatory classes were not designed as ‘welcome classes’ which have their own program, separate from the regular classes and adapted to foreign minors’ needs.[23] Thirdly, teachers are obliged to implement the same curriculum in the preparatory classes as in the regular ones, the only difference is that all children in a class are foreign and a teacher can adapt his method of teaching to their special needs.[24] Meanwhile, the program of such classes should concentrate on learning Polish.[25] Moreover, one preparatory class can be organised for children of different ages (e.g. children who qualify for primary school grades I to III can be grouped together in a preparatory class), which means that a teacher may be obliged to implement the curriculum even for three grades at once.[26] Lastly, experts point out that there is no system which would prepare teachers to work in preparatory classes with third-country nationals.[27]
According to the Supreme Audit Office, in the school year 2020/2021 only 1% of foreign pupils attended preparatory classes, in 2021/2022 – 2% and in 2022/2023 – 7.15%.[28]
For information on access to education for Ukrainian children, see TP: Access to education.
Kindergarten
In 2023, in most of the reception centres, some form of kindergarten was organised. This daycare is provided minimum 5 times a week for 5 hours a day. However, in Linin and Podkowa Leśna-Dębak no kindergarten services were provided from May to September due to a delay in the tender procedure for the service in these centres.[29]
Educational activities for adults
There is no access to vocational training for asylum seekers provided under the law. It is considered ‘one of the biggest shortcomings of the reception system in the area of education’.[30]
The only educational activities that adults are granted access to are Polish language courses organised in all centres. They are open both for asylum seekers living in the centre and outside. Additionally, Polish language classes for adults are organised in Warsaw for those asylum seekers who receive a financial allowance and do not live in a reception centre. In 2023, there was also a possibility to learn Polish online.[31]
The Polish language course’s level is considered insufficient by some NGOs, even if the attendees generally evaluated such classes positively.[32]
The Office for Foreigners indicated that asylum seekers actively participate in Polish language lessons. In total, 830 adults attended such courses in 2023.[33] However, these numbers seem meagre when the overall number of asylum seekers is taken into account. The earlier research showed that the low participation rate results, among others, from the fact that asylum seekers are not willing to stay in Poland or are aware that the chances for obtaining international protection in Poland are small so they are not motivated to learn the local language. The time of language classes is also not adapted to the needs of working asylum seekers.[34] Another research showed that asylum seekers were unwilling to attend classes, inter alia, due to traumatic experiences from the country of origin or the lack of childcare.[35] Moreover, it has been reported that new attendees of the language lessons are accepted at all times during the year, which leads to a need to often repeat parts of the course that had already been covered, thereby impeding some students’ progress.[36]
Other courses in the centres, including vocational training and integration activities, are organised by NGOs.[37]
[1] Article 165 (1) and (2) of Law of 14 December 2016 on education. See also ECRI, ‘ECRI Report on Poland (six monitoring cycle)’, June 2023, available in English at: https://bit.ly/4az8MgJ, 22-23.
[2] Information provided by the Office for Foreigners, 16 February 2024; Office for Foreigners, ‘Nowy rok szkolny dla dzieci w procedurze uchodźczej’, 4 September 2023, available in Polish at: https://bit.ly/3vD1b18.
[3] Some problems with late enrollment to schools were reported, see M. Pachocka, K. Pędziwiatr, K. Sobczak-Szelc, J. Szałańska, ‘Reception Policies, Practices and Responses: Poland Country Report’, 2020, RESPOND Working Papers 2020/45, available at: http://bit.ly/3jLCvsV, 73-74. See also Fundacja EMIC, ‘Życie Afganek i Afgańczyków w Polsce po dwóch latach od ewakuacji nadal jest bardzo trudne’, 15 September 2023, available in Polish at: https://bit.ly/4aXdIf9.
[4] Article 165 (7) of Law of 14 December 2016 on education. See also ECRI, ‘ECRI Report on Poland (six monitoring cycle)’, June 2023, available in English at: https://bit.ly/4az8MgJ, 23.
[5] Article 71(1)(1f) Law on Protection.
[6] Article 165 (10) of Law of 14 December 2016 on education. See also ECRI, ‘ECRI Report on Poland (six monitoring cycle)’, June 2023, available in English at: https://bit.ly/4az8MgJ, 23.
[7] Information provided by the Office for Foreigners, 16 February 2024.
[8] ECRI, ‘ECRI Report on Poland (six monitoring cycle)’, June 2023, available in English at: https://bit.ly/4az8MgJ, 23; J. Kościółek, ‘Children with Migration Backgrounds in Polish Schools – Problems and Challenges’, Annales Series Historia et Sociologia 30, 2020, 4, available at: https://bit.ly/3vBdl8j, 607. Cf. K. Sobczak-Szelc, M. Pachocka, K. Pędziwiatr, J. Szałańska, ‘Integration Policies, Practices and Responses. Poland – Country Report’, Multilevel Governance of Mass Migration in Europe and Beyond Project (#770564, Horizon2020), available at: http://bit.ly/3pjlXtq, 79; Supreme Audit Office, ‘Kształcenie dzieci rodziców powracających do kraju i dzieci cudzoziemców’, September 2020, available (in Polish) at: http://bit.ly/3piaNVR.
[9] Supreme Audit Office, ‘Kształcenie dzieci cudzoziemców w polskich szkołach’, 12 December 2023, available in Polish here: https://www.nik.gov.pl/plik/id,28888,vp,31720.pdf, 13.
[10] M. Sadowska, ‘Świadczenia ‘Dobry start’ in SIP, Prawa cudzoziemców w Polsce w 2019 roku. Raport, 2020, available (in Polish) at: https://bit.ly/3jT7weM, 68.
[11] SIP, ‘Wyrok NSA: świadczenie Dobry Start („300+”) przysługuje osobom ubiegającym się o ochronę międzynarodową’, 11 sierpnia 2020, available (in Polish) at: https://bit.ly/37bWxb8.
[12] M. Sadowska, ‘Świadczenie dobry start 300+’ in SIP, Prawa cudzoziemców w Polsce w 2020 roku. Raport, 2021, available in Polish at: https://bit.ly/3sGmlXS, 78-80. See also SIP, Prawa cudzoziemców w Polsce w 2021 roku. Raport, 2022, available in Polish at: https://bit.ly/3zmp637, 24.
[13] See inter alia Ministry of Interior and Administration, ‘Polityka migracyjna Polski – diagnoza stanu wyjsciowego’, available in Polish at: http://bit.ly/377T5Ov, 40; Supreme Audit Office, ‘Kształcenie dzieci rodziców powracających do kraju i dzieci cudzoziemców’, September 2020, available (in Polish) at: http://bit.ly/3piaNVR.
[14] Fundacja EMIC, ‘Przyjazna szkoła – integracja i edukacja’, 28 December 2022, available in Polish here: https://bit.ly/3NWcbxA; Ministry of Education, ‘Nauka dzieci przybywających z zagranicy w polskim systemie edukacji’, available (in Polish) at: https://bit.ly/31KtY0C; information confirmed by the Ministry of Education and Science, 26 January 2022. See also K. Potoniec, ‘Comparative analysis of instruments supporting the integration of pupils under international protection in the educational systems of the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary’, December 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3sHaxVq, 13.
[15] Supreme Audit Office, ‘Kształcenie dzieci cudzoziemców w polskich szkołach’, 12 December 2023, available in Polish here: https://www.nik.gov.pl/plik/id,28888,vp,31720.pdf, 12.
[16] Information from the Office for Foreigners, 16 February 2024.
[17] Supreme Audit Office, ‘Kształcenie dzieci rodziców powracających do kraju i dzieci cudzoziemców’, September 2020, available (in Polish) at: http://bit.ly/3piaNVR. See also J. Kościółek, ‘Children with Migration Backgrounds in Polish Schools – Problems and Challenges’, Annales Series Historia et Sociologia 30, 2020, 4, available at: https://bit.ly/3vBdl8j, 604.
[18] Institute of Public Affairs, ‘Analiza przygotowania lokalnych instytucji do przyjęcia uchodźców z programu relokacji i przesiedleń. Raport końcowy z badań fokusowych’, 2016, available (in Polish) at: http://bit.ly/2GBfKr4, 57-62; Iglicka, Krystyna, ‘Chechen’s Lesson. Challenges of Integrating Refugee Children in a Transit Country: A Polish Case Study’, Central and Eastern European Migration Review, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2017, available at: http://bit.ly/2GPiKiV, 123, 130.
[19] See e.g. SIP, Submission to ECRI, 15 June 2022, available in English here: https://bit.ly/3zmaGAb, 3-4.
[20] See Article 165(11-14) of the Law of 14 December 2016 on education and Para 16 Ordinance of the Ministry of National Education of 23 August 2017 on education of persons without Polish citizenship and Polish citizens who learned in schools in other countries (w sprawie kształcenia osób niebędących obywatelami polskimi oraz osób będących obywatelami polskimi, które pobierały naukę w szkołach funkcjonujących w systemach oświaty innych państw).
[21] Para 16(2) and (9) Ordinance of the Ministry of National Education of 23 August 2017 on education of persons without Polish citizenship and Polish citizens who learned in schools in other countries (w sprawie kształcenia osób niebędących obywatelami polskimi oraz osób będących obywatelami polskimi, które pobierały naukę w szkołach funkcjonujących w systemach oświaty innych państw).
[22] Commissioner for Human Rights, ‘Posiedzenie Komisji Ekspertów ds. Migrantów’, 12 December 2016, available (in Polish) at: http://bit.ly/2odhX16. See also K. Kamler, J. Orlikowska, J. Schmidt and J. Szymańska, ‘Młodzi migranci w pandemii COVID-19. Raport z badań jakościowych sytuacji uczniów cudzoziemskich w warszawskich szkołach’, 2021, available in Polish at: https://bit.ly/3HIZLC8, 25-27.
[23] K. Sołtan-Kościelecka, ‘Klasy powitalne. Realna szansa na poprawę warunków kształcenia cudzoziemców czy pozorne rozwiązanie?’, Biuletyn Migracyjny no. 57, June 2018, available (in Polish) at: http://bit.ly/2EkcIF8.
[24] K. Wójcik, ‘Więcej cudzoziemców w szkołach’, 11 September 2019, available (in Polish) at: https://bit.ly/2vgizth; Supreme Audit Office, ‘Kształcenie dzieci rodziców powracających do kraju i dzieci cudzoziemców’, September 2020, available (in Polish) at: http://bit.ly/3piaNVR, 47-48.
[25] M. Koss-Goryszewska, ‘Edukacja’ in A. Górska, M. Koss-Goryszewska, J. Kucharczyk (eds), W stronę krajowego machanizmu ewaluacji integracji: Diagnoza sytuacji beneficjentów ochrony międzynarodowej w Polsce, Instytut Spraw Publicznych 2019, 50-51.
[26] J. Kościółek, ‘Children with Migration Backgrounds in Polish Schools – Problems and Challenges’, Annales Series Historia et Sociologia 30, 2020, 4, available at: https://bit.ly/3vBdl8j, 607.
[27] M. Koss-Goryszewska. ‘Edukacja’ in A. Górska, M. Koss-Goryszewska, J. Kucharczyk (eds), W stronę krajowego machanizmu ewaluacji integracji: Diagnoza sytuacji beneficjentów ochrony międzynarodowej w Polsce, Instytut Spraw Publicznych 2019, 51.
[28] Supreme Audit Office, ‘Kształcenie dzieci cudzoziemców w polskich szkołach’, 12 December 2023, available in Polish here: https://www.nik.gov.pl/plik/id,28888,vp,31720.pdf, 10.
[29] Information from the Office for Foreigners, 16 February 2024.
[30] M. Pachocka, K. Pędziwiatr, K. Sobczak-Szelc, J. Szałańska, ‘Reception Policies, Practices and Responses: Poland Country Report’, 2020, RESPOND Working Papers 2020/45, available at: http://bit.ly/3jLCvsV, 82.
[31] Information from the Office for Foreigners, 16 February 2024.
[32] R. Baczyński-Sielaczek, ‘Język polski w ośrodkach. Wyniki badania ewaluacyjnego’, Instytut Spraw Pubicznych 2016, 19-22; information from the Office for Foreigners, 3 February 2023.
[33] Information from the Office for Foreigners, 16 February 2024.
[34] R. Baczyński-Sielaczek, ‘Język polski w ośrodkach. Wyniki badania ewaluacyjnego’, Instytut Spraw Pubicznych 2016, 34.
[35] M. Pachocka, K. Pędziwiatr, K. Sobczak-Szelc, J. Szałańska, ‘Reception Policies, Practices and Responses: Poland Country Report’, 2020, RESPOND Working Papers 2020/45, available at: http://bit.ly/3jLCvsV, 78-80.
[36] PFM, Czas w ośrodku to czas wykluczenia, 2023, available in Polish at: https://bit.ly/3TZX1tK.
[37] Information from the Office for Foreigners, 3 February 2023.