From 1 September 2026 wellness education will become compulsory in classes IV-VIII and for 2 years in secondary schools. That's fundamentally 1 hr a week. Separate sexual wellness classes will be optional, but parents will not release the kid from the compulsory core of the program, which besides includes values, attitudes, puberty and social relationships.
Mandatory object, optional module
The Ministry of Education has divided wellness education into 2 subjects. As of September 1, 2026, the main subject will be mandatory in grades IV-VIII of primary school and in 2 classes of advanced school, method school and manufacture school of the first degree, chosen by the director. MEN gives 1 hr a week, with tiny reductions in the yearly dimension. Class VIII classes will end in January at the latest.
Sexual wellness content was transferred to a separate optional subject. Classes IV-VI supply after 1 hr a year, classes VII-VIII for two, and in secondary schools for 3 hours in each of the 2 years of teaching. A parent of a insignificant may resign in writing. These rules shall specify Regulation of the Minister of Education of 17 July 2026.
This is simply a concrete change and it needs to be recorded fairly. It must not be claimed that sexual education has remained compulsory in its unchanged shape. However, the dispute is not over due to the fact that the mandatory part of the programme continues to go beyond pure cognition of anatomy, nutrition, first aid or addiction.
The dispute concerns the right to education
Nine divisions, among them values and attitudes, intellectual health, social health, puberty, the net and the prevention of addiction, stay in the mandatory basis. Many of these issues are needed. A kid should be able to give first aid, admit addiction, and defend himself from violence. However, the state crosses a safe line erstwhile under the name of wellness begins to form the planet of value without a clear mandate of parents and without transparent control of the materials.
This problem is highlighted by a comment published in the weekly magazine “To Things”. Its thesis is simple: the removal of the compulsory sexual wellness department alone does not defend students from ideological influence if the remaining programming basis retains wider educational content. This is simply a publicist position, but it touches on the real weakness of the reform. Parents may opt out of a fewer optional hours, but not of a mandatory subject in which the state left a module on values and attitudes.
The Constitution in Article 48 protects the right of parents to rise children according to their own beliefs, respecting the maturity of the kid and his freedom. Public school can't treat this as a troublesome addition. The parent is the first educator. The Ministry, expert and teacher have a supporting role, not a replacement role.
Civil opposition must be wise and legal
The slogan of civilian disobedience sounds strong, but liable parents should not act chaoticly or shift the cost of protest to children. Self-leaving compulsory lessons can hit the student first and foremost. More effective is the consistent control of what the school truly teaches.
Parents have the right to require the manager to supply information about the program, textbooks, supporting materials and the qualifications of the host. They should attend meetings, ask written questions, request answers and rise concerns about circumstantial content alternatively than fight rumors. A dispute between bishops and MEN about household and wellness education shows that social force must be based on documents. Otherwise, the ministry will easy bring criticism to emotion.
Cooperation with parents' councils, social organisations and self-government is besides needed. 1 message may be ignored. Tens of precise requests, public questions and documented violations of household rights form material for administrative and judicial control. Parents are already demanding from Minister Barbara Nowacka specifics. Educational authority is to respond in substance, without labelling people who defend their children.
Health without an ideological monopoly
The right would make a mistake rejecting all wellness education simply due to the fact that the improvement raises legitimate global concerns. Digital hygiene, prevention of addiction, intellectual health, movement and first aid are needed for children. We must defend these contents, while at the same time ensuring that the state does not smuggle under their cover 1 imagination of man, household and puberty.
Freedom of the Polish household is at stake. The school is to pass on reliable cognition and support the house, not take over moral control from it. Citizen disobedience in this substance should mean refusal of inactivity: reading documents, controlling materials, joint action and hard enforcement of constitutional rights. That's how you build force that an authoritative can't take away.
Source: To Things, Ministry of National Education, Log
Source: To Things
