WARSAW (Reuters) – Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Thursday he would for a second time refuse to sign into law proposed reforms to education which critics say would limit students’ access to lessons on issues such as LGBT rights.
The law would have increased the power of government-appointed school supervisors to make decisions about who can provide extra curriculum lessons in schools.
The reforms had been criticized as some said they would stop NGOs accessing schools as well as make it easier to fire school principals who won’t abide by school supervisor’s recommendations.
Duda said he had received letters of protest from parents and educators.
“I have decided not to sign this law … I understand this will calm down a large part of our society. We need peace today … we need social peace, political peace,” he said.
This was the second attempt by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) to increase the influence of government-appointed officials over schools. Duda vetoed the previous version of the bill last March.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Anna Koper, Pawel Florkiewicz ans Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
