10,000 teachers could lose their jobs in schools. "Feeling of discrimination is growing"

• The Commissioner for Human Rights indicates that reducing the number of hours of religious education in schools raises doubts as to its compliance with the Constitution.
• According to the Commissioner for Human Rights, as a result of the actions of the Ministry of National Education, over 10,000 teachers will remain unemployed.
• The spokesman is of the opinion that limiting religious education hours should be preceded by adaptive and protective measures.

In his speech to the Minister of Education, Barbara Nowacka, the Commissioner for Human Rights, Marcin Wiącek, indicates that reducing the number of hours of religious education in schools , not preceded by adjustment and protective measures, may raise doubts in the context of the constitutional principle of labor protection.

The Ministry of National Education proposes to create religion classes combined with other classes. It would be permissible to combine students from different classes, but only if they are at the same educational stage (I–III, IV–VI, VII–VIII). When asked by the Commissioner for Human Rights whether this would not cause mass unemployment among catechists, the ministry stated that it would be quite the opposite, because there is a general shortage of teachers, and in general, principals will decide on their own.

According to estimates by the Ministry of Education, around 10,000 catechists will be unemployed from September 1. The Association of Secular Catechists estimates that there will be significantly more, and many of those who keep their jobs will have their employment drastically reduced.

According to the Ombudsman, reducing the number of hours of religious education, not preceded by adjustment and protective measures, may raise doubts in the context of the principle of work protection resulting from Article 24 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland , which states:

Work is under the protection of the Republic of Poland. The state supervises the conditions of work.

Marcin Wiącek admitted that his office had received many complaints from catechists who lamented that in the time allocated for introducing changes in schools they were unable to obtain qualifications to teach new subjects.

This leads to the emergence of a sense of discrimination in this professional group, a lack of understanding and underestimation of their work by society, especially by the state authorities responsible for educational policy.

- said the Ombudsman.

He also added that appropriate transitional periods should be maintained and the rights of religious teachers should be protected.

Another issue is the fact that the right to religious education in a public school is an element of freedom of conscience and religion.

- Legal regulations defining the principles of exercising this freedom constitute statutory matter; they cannot be regulated by implementing acts to the act. All the more so, it should not be a regulation based on a blanket statutory authorization that does not contain guidelines regarding the content of the regulation - we read in the letter of the Commissioner for Human Rights to the Minister of Education Barbara Nowacka.

The Ombudsman’s statement is published below the article.