The Holy Synod of the Polish Orthodox Church has joined the Roman Catholic Church in Poland in expressing concern over the new regulation of the Ministry of Education on the reform of the teaching of Religion and Ethics in schools.
By order of the Ministry of Education, from the new 2025 school year, religious education or ethics will be only one hour a week, instead of two, as before. In addition, the classes will be held before or after regular classes. An exception will be made only for schools where all students have enrolled to study Religion or Ethics – these classes will be held within the regular program. Religious education can also be held outside of school – in a catechism center or in an inter-school group.
In schools, it is prohibited to unite groups of students from grades 1 to 3 to study Religion or Ethics, except in cases where seven or fewer children from a given class have enrolled. The maximum number of children in a united group is twenty-five. In Polish secondary schools, students can choose to attend Religion and/or Ethics, or neither of the two subjects. The subject Religion has different variants depending on the denomination, including Religion – Orthodoxy. According to the Polish Ministry of Education and Science, the aim of the changes is to bring the conditions and manner of conducting Religion and Ethics classes into line with the possibilities for organizing the work of schools and kindergartens in terms of rational management of pedagogical staff and the time for conducting these classes.
