The president of the ultimate Court, Dr. Małgorzata Manowska, asked the Constitutional Court to examine compliance with the basic law with the fresh rules which importantly restrict and hinder the teaching of religion in schools. The application is accompanied by a request for suspension of the contested provisions, which means that they will not enter into force with 1 September.
In consequence to the petitions of the Bureau of the Polish Episcopal Conference and the communities associated with the Polish Ecumenical Council, the president of the ultimate Court requested the examination of the constitutionality of the revised MEN Regulation on the organisation of spiritual education in public kindergartens and schools, the ultimate Court press service announces a message.
The first president of the SN accuses the contested regulation of non-compliance in its entirety with Article 25(3) of the Constitution. It is simply a violation of the constitutional rule of "a consensual way of regulating relations between the state and churches and another spiritual unions". This means that these relations should be established on the basis of bilateral or multilateral consent.
It besides exists in the opinion of Dr hab. Manowska's incompatibility with Article 12 of the Act on the Education strategy in conjunction with Articles 2 and 7 of the Polish Constitution. The intent is to specify the conditions and manner of organising the discipline of religion "in a way incompatible with the content of the legislative delegation".
The president emphasises in the proposal that although members of the church squad participating in talks with the MEN on changes in the organisation of spiritual lessons at school could express their position towards the presented assumptions, the intent of the gathering was not to scope consensus. "The authorities of the Ministry of Education have been in the position from the beginning that they are obliged only to consult the representatives of the Church without any work to agree on the amendments being prepared," noted the First president of the ultimate Court.
In addition, the author of the speech alleged that part of the contested regulation was incompatible in so far as it provides the basis for the organisation of religion in inter-branch or interclass groups covering children from different levels of teaching. The first president sees incompatibility with Article 53(3) (the right of parents to supply children with education and moral and spiritual teaching according to their beliefs) in connection with Article 48(1) of the Polish Constitution (the right of parents to rise children according to their own beliefs).
The proposal besides pointed out, among another things, the incompatibility with Article 12 of the Concordat between the Holy See and the Republic of Poland, which mentions guarantees from the State, that, while recognising the right of parents to rise spiritual children and the rule of tolerance, it will guarantee in schools of various types conducted by them in accordance with the will of curious spiritual learning as part of the curriculum.
The ultimate Court, represented by the 1st President, besides contests the MEN Regulation in respect of non-compliance with Articles 2 and 24 of the Constitution in conjunction with Article 65(5) of the Basic Act. The conclusion is that ‘the application of the contested rules will lead to an unexpected one-month period only vacatio legis) reducing the request for spiritual teachers in educational institutions, which, in view of the failure of teachers to get the ability to teach another subjects, poses a real threat to their abrupt failure of employment, in breach of the rule of the protection of citizens' trust in the state and the law they lay down, the rule of protection of work and the work to conduct policies aimed at full, productive employment."
The application for review of the constitutionality of the contested regulation is accompanied by a request for a safety to suspend the application of the contested provisions. This would mean that the MEN Regulation of 26 July will not enter into force until the Constitutional Court has examined the application of the SN. In practice, therefore, it would surely not become effective for at least the 2024/2025 school year.
According to the First president of the SN, the safety is “required to guarantee appropriate protection of the rights of both minors carrying out their school duties and their parents and staff of educational institutions at hazard of dismissal” and “will adequately defend the rights of the categories of persons identified”.
On the another hand, the entry into force of the contested regulation on 1 September this year would lead, in the opinion of the SN, to "failure of the protection of designated entities in this school year", which "may lead to irreversible effects, especially for catechists at hazard of abrupt failure of employment".
The full content of the application is available on the ultimate Court website:
https://www.sn.pl/updates/SitePages/Events.aspx?ItemSID=1012-0dc69815-3ade-42fa-bbb8-549c3c6969c5&ListName=Events
Sources: KAI, PCh24.pl
RoM
