Constitutional court rules against Polish government's cuts to religious teaching in schools

Poland's Constitutional Tribunal (TK) has ruled that the government's decision to halve the number of hours that Catholic catechism classes are taught in schools is unconstitutional because it was not agreed with the church.

However, the education ministry is likely to ignore the ruling – as it has done with previous Constitutional Tribunal judgments rejecting changes to the teaching of religion – because the government regards the tribunal as illegitimate due to the presence of illegally appointed judges.

Religion classes have curriculums and teachers chosen by the Catholic church but are hosted and funded by public schools . The lessons are optional but are attended by most pupils in Poland, where 71% of people identify as Catholics . However, attendance has been falling .

When it came to power in 2023, the current government – ​​a broad coalition ranging from left to center-right – set out plans to halve the number of hours that religion is taught in schools from two hours a week to one. The measure is planned to go into effect at the start of the new school year this September.

The education minister, Barbara Nowacka, argues that two hours per week of religion classes is “excessive”, given that it is more than pupils have for some other academic subjects.

Her decision has, however, been strongly criticized by the church, which says it would “restrict the right of religious parents to raise their children in accordance with their beliefs” and is “unlawful” because it was made without agreement being reached between the government and religious groups affected.

In a ruling announced on Thursday, the Constitutional Tribunal came down on the church's side.

It found that Nowacka had not complied with the law regulating Poland's education system, which states that the organization of religious education must be decided in agreement with the Catholic church and other religious associations.

By doing so, Nowacka had violated a number of constitutional principles relating to respect for the law and also to “cooperation for the common good” between the church and state, found the Constitutional Tribunal.

The decision was made unanimously by a three-judge panel made up of the Constitutional Tribunal's president, Bogdan Święczkowski , as well as Krystyna Pawłowicz and Stanisław Piotrowicz , who are both former MPs from the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS), Poland's main opposition party.

However, the ruling is likely to have no impact in practice because the government has adopted a policy of ignoring Constitutional Tribunal rulings . It regards the tribunal as illegitimate due to the actions of the former PiS government, which illegally appointed three judges to the Constitutional Tribunal .

In two previous rulings, issued last November and in May this year , the TK found other changes that the education ministry has made to the organization of religion classes to be unconstitutional. However, both those judgments have been ignored by the government, drawing criticism from the Catholic church.

On Thursday, the spokesman for the Polish episcopate, Leszek Gęsiak, welcomed the Constitutional Tribunal's decision, which he said is “is consistent with the opinion consistently expressed by representatives of the church.”

He also warned that, if the government ignores the ruling, the church “will take all possible and available legal steps, including in international institutions”, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

Main image credit: Rafał Michałowski/ Agencja Wyborcza.pl