At the start of the school year Poland introduced an optional health education course for pupils aged about 10 and older. The weekly one-hour subject covers physical and mental health, nutrition, environmental influences, social media risks and drugs. One of its 10 modules — on sexual health — has generated intense controversy because it deals with contraception, sexually transmitted infections and sexual violence.
Right-wing groups and the Catholic hierarchy say the sex module corrupts children and are demanding its removal. Education has been an ideological battleground in Poland: from 2015 to 2023 the national-conservative Law and Justice party tightened its influence over schools and promoted patriotic, conservative values. After the 2023 election the coalition led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk pledged reforms. Education minister Barbara Nowacka raised teachers’ pay and overhauled the curriculum. The new health education course replaced the PiS-era family life education programme and, like its predecessor, is optional.
Poland’s bishops have been vocal. In a May 2025 pastoral letter they accused the government of trying to eroticize and corrupt children and of removing sexuality from the framework of marriage and family, urging parents to resist. The government made participation voluntary and allowed parents to unregister pupils. Right-leaning president Karol Nawrocki publicly opposed the subject, calling it an attempt to smuggle ideology into schools.
The Education Ministry says roughly 30 percent of eligible students have enrolled, with the lowest uptake in southeastern regions where conservative and church influence is strongest. Supporters argue that the course fills real needs. Psychologist and sex education specialist Tosia Kopyt, who helped design the curriculum and has taught both the old family life classes and the new health course, says it is modern, comprehensive and important, and that lessons aim to let young people discuss sexuality without embarrassment or vulgarity. Magdalena Wielogorska, head teacher at a school in Mikołajki, reports that offering longer class blocks, practical exercises and detailed parent information evenings lifted participation to 86 percent at her school.
Minister Nowacka has said she will decide by the end of March whether to make the subject compulsory. Teachers, students and democratic organizations are lobbying for that outcome. Student group Akcja Uczniowska has called health education the most important subject and accused politicians of turning it into a partisan battleground. Civic groups warn that backing down could set a precedent for removing other scientific or evidence-based topics from classrooms.
Opponents remain determined. The Coalition for Saving Polish Schools, which says it represents more than 90 organizations, wants the course scrapped and alleges it promotes what it labels gender ideology, encourages medical interventions and infringes parental rights and teachers’ consciences.
The subject’s future is likely to hinge on electoral politics: the curriculum is secure only until the next parliamentary election, scheduled for 2027. If Law and Justice returns to power, its likely candidate for prime minister, Przemysław Czarnek — who as education minister campaigned against what he called left-wing ideas — would probably seek to abolish the course.
This article was originally published in German.