After the elections held on October 15, the democratic opposition has taken power in Poland. Donald Tusk has been appointed as the head of the government, and he has selected ministers from the coalition parties' MPs – Civic Coalition, The Left, and The Third Way. One of the most talked-about decisions was the appointment of Barbara Nowacka as the head of the Ministry of National Education.

The Civic Coalition politician has been working on changing education with a few key projects in mind. These include removing homework, streamlining the core curriculum, and removing History and Contemporary Times (HiT) lessons from the curriculum.

One of the first actions taken by Barbara Nowacka was to dismiss the controversial education superintendent in Małopolska, Barbara Nowak, from her position. Staff changes also occurred in other provinces. Since March, Wioletta Krzyżanowska has officially held the Mazovian education superintendent post. In an interview with tokfm.pl, Krzyżanowska announced that she would be focusing on implementing a "school of compassion, without indifference" idea.

Wioletta Krzyżanowska, the newly appointed education superintendent for Mazovia, has stated that school inspections will still be conducted as it is part of her duty to supervise educational institutions. However, she emphasises that inspections should not be carried out in a way that instils fear. In an interview with tokfm.pl, she suggested that inspections should take the form of an audit highlighting areas that need improvement and how to achieve it.

Krzyżanowska further announced that she does not foresee an increase in scrutiny of self-organising schools. Schools that held events such as Rainbow Friday had faced intense scrutiny during the eight-year rule of the Law and Justice party. Barbara Nowak and Sovereign Poland MP Janusz Kowalski were among those who were known to be particularly harsh in this regard.

"I believe that the decision to organise events like Rainbow Friday or Papal Day should be left to individual schools. It is important that such decisions are made democratically, with the involvement of student councils. This will enable us to work together towards rebuilding public trust in schools as institutions, one step at a time," suggested Wioletta Krzyżanowska.

Before Wioletta Krzyżanowska was appointed Mazovian superintendent of education, she was the Polish Olympians Primary School No. 323 principal in Warsaw. The school was one of the first in Poland to introduce a restriction on assigning homework and push for project-based work.

Source: tokfm.pl