Poland: Teachers, students demand resignation of education minister

The May 5 appointment was denounced by Gazeta Wyborcza as “a slap in the face for all Polish teachers.” Student demonstrations immediately occurred in most large cities after Giertych’s appointment, with more than 10,000 marching nationwide demanding his resignation.

“We fear that an atmosphere of nationalism, chauvinism and radical clericalism along the lines of the ideas propagated by Radio Maryja (an ultra-nationalistic, anti-Semitic Polish radio station) will now penetrate into all schools. The already limited pluralism will be completely erased,” declared a spokesperson for the student demonstrators.

The Polish Teachers’ Association (PTA) had already requested his dismissal. “The minister lacks competence in the area of education,” said PTA head Slawomir Broniarz. “He is unfamiliar with the functioning of the Polish education system.”

An online petition calling for Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz of the Law and Justice Party (PiS) to remove Giertych as education minister received 60,000 signatures within 40 hours in early May. A group of students, teachers and education experts then gathered 140,000 signatures calling for Giertych’s resignation a month later. More than 2,500 teachers came to Warsaw on June 9 to protest Giertych’s appointment.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2006/jul2006/pola-j08.shtml