Since 2009, parents in Poland have been protesting against government’s decision regarding school being obligatory for six year olds. During this time, more than one million signatures have been collected. Parents are very active in the media as well as in parliamentary committees - numerous meetings and debates with politicians are taking place lately.
Their aim is to call a referendum where citizens will be given an opportunity do decide whether they want to send their six year old children to school or not. According to vast number of parents, kindergartens are more friendly for kids and they feel safer there. What is more, schools are still not ready to receive six-year --olds in terms of infrastructure and teachers’ preparation
In bigger cities, another problem that occurs is large number of pupils at schools, which makes them not very friendly for youngest students. Government is trying to prevent the referendum and pass the reform against parents’ will. Sejm session on 24th October 2013, where decision on referendum was to be made, ended with pointless discussion and rescheduling the final decision meeting for two weeks later. For the first time in Poland parents are fighting so consistently for their right to make decision on their children’s education. Research shows that 64% of parents feel that six year olds are not ready to begin school education.
No comments:
Post a Comment