Poland’s top Catholic bishop warned on Saturday that compulsory “health education” in schools contains “very problematic content” on marriage and family—prompting a sharp response from the government that has further escalated the dispute.
Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda, head of the Polish Episcopal Conference, told worshippers the subject violates parents’ constitutional right to raise children according to their beliefs and called for broader consultation with families and religious groups.
Education minister Barbara Nowacka hit back, dismissing critics as driven by “ignorance or arrogance” and accusing some parents of being “toxic.”
“One toxic parent can destroy relationships around this subject,” she said on Monday, May 4th, adding that “wise parents” would still choose optional sexual health lessons.
The row centres on the government’s decision to make “health education” mandatory from September. The subject, introduced last year as an optional replacement for “education for family life,” will now be compulsory from the fourth year of primary school and for two years in secondary education.
Lessons cover hygiene, mental health, nutrition, physical activity, addiction prevention, and first aid. Content related to sex education, after earlier backlash, will remain optional.
Church leaders say the curriculum still undermines family values. They argue it separates sexuality from marriage, promotes “LGBTQ+ legal and social issues,” and sidelines parents.
Speaking to europeanconservative.com last year, Polish pedagogue and theologian Zbigniew Barciński said the programme removes sexual education from the context of marriage and family, instead framing it in ideological terms.
Archbishop Wojda also pointed to participation figures: while only around 30% of pupils opted into the classes when they were voluntary, roughly 70% still attend Catholic catechism—raising the question of why one is now being imposed while the other remains a choice.
Opposition figures reacted angrily. MP Olga Semeniuk-Patkowska of the conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party wrote: “Nowacka wants to indoctrinate children, and every parent who thinks differently is, for her, a ‘nuisance’”.
Right-wing commentator Marcin Ostaszewski quipped: “Certainly. Just as some ministers are a nuisance to the country.”
The exchange has sharpened what was already a tense debate, turning a curriculum change into a broader confrontation over parental authority and the state’s role in shaping what children are taught.
Zoltán Kottász is a journalist for europeanconservative.com, based in Budapest. He worked for many years as a journalist and as the editor of the foreign desk at the Hungarian daily, Magyar Nemzet. He focuses primarily on European politics.
