The government had planned to pilot the system during the 2026-2027 school year, which begins on Tuesday, as an alternative to commercial electronic registers already used by Polish schools.
'A gift to foreign business'
Education Minister Barbara Nowacka called President Karol Nawrocki's move a "lobbying veto," while Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski described it as "a gift to foreign business."
Deputy Education Minister Katarzyna Lubnauer said the veto meant parents could continue to face charges for full access to commercial applications, while information on students’ grades and attendance would remain on private companies’ servers.
"This veto has a very specific price; parents and children will pay it," she said.
Gawkowski accused the president of blocking the digitization of Polish schools and weakening state control over sensitive information.
"The state wanted to take responsibility for this data, but the president prefers to hand children's data to foreign companies," he said.
The proposed central system would contain student data including national identification numbers, photographs, grades, attendance records and information on special educational needs.
'I'm not saying no'
Nawrocki said on Friday that he supported the idea of a state electronic register but believed the legislation had been "poorly prepared."
He said the law did not provide sufficient guarantees over access to the information. He also criticized what he described as the absence of detailed standards covering data encryption, mandatory security audits and procedures for responding to failures or security threats.
The president also questioned the price of the system.
The education ministry had estimated that developing and operating it would cost the state PLN 216.5 million (EUR 50 million, USD 58 million) over 10 years.
"The state must be able to demonstrate clearly that such expenditure is necessary and reasonable," Nawrocki said.
His third objection concerned the timetable. The pilot had been due to begin on September 22, with the full system planned for September next year.
Nawrocki said schools needed more time for training and preparation.
"I'm not saying no to a state e-register," he said. "I am saying: prepare properly, prepare better."
He called for consultations with teachers and experts, stronger protection of children’s data and clearer control over costs.
The government argues that the system would give schools and families a free, advertisement-free alternative to private platforms.
These include Librus, one of Poland's major school communication and electronic register systems, which is part of the Boston-based Public Consulting Group, a specialist consultancy which provides technology and management services to public-sector clients.
The proposed state system would have been integrated with Poland’s Education Information System (SIO), allowing schools to draw on information already held in government databases rather than entering it again.
Parents and students would have accessed it through the government’s popular mObywatel and mObywatel Junior apps.
Jan Grabiec, head of Prime Minister Donald Tusk's office, also questioned whether lobbying by companies earning money from existing electronic register services had influenced the decision.
Nawrocki rejected the government’s approach but left open the possibility of backing a revised proposal meeting his conditions.
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR/PAP, gov.pl, polskieradio24.pl