Polish Students Face New Mandatory Health Education Course From September

Polish students will find a new compulsory subject on their timetables from Sept. 1, 2026, although health education itself is not entirely new. It replaced the former family-life education course during the previous school year, when students could attend voluntarily.

Under the new arrangements, primary schools will provide one health-education lesson each week in grades four through eight. Grade-eight classes will continue only until the end of January. In secondary schools, the course will run for one weekly lesson in two classes selected by the school director.

The curriculum will cover values and attitudes, physical health, exercise, nutrition, mental health, social health, environmental health, internet use and addiction prevention. The primary-school programme will also include puberty, while the curriculum refers to the health-protection system in secondary schools.

Sexual-health lessons will remain optional. They will not be graded and will not affect promotion to the next grade or completion of school. Parents can withdraw underage students by submitting a written request to the school director. Adult students must make that decision themselves.

Before the optional classes begin each school year, the teacher and homeroom teacher must hold at least one information meeting for parents of underage students and for adult students. The meetings must explain the programme’s aims and content, as well as the textbooks, educational materials, exercise materials and teaching aids. The school director is responsible for ensuring that the meetings take place.

The optional sexual-health component has drawn opposition from Poland’s Law and Justice party and the Catholic bishops’ conference. The Constitutional Tribunal is considering a PiS request to declare the regulations introducing health education unconstitutional.