Local governments across Poland have ramped up applications to close primary schools this year, with some regions submitting dozens of requests, reversing a slowdown seen two years ago during an election year, the newspaper said.
Mazowieckie, the region around Warsaw, has seen the sharpest decline: since 2023, regional education authorities have approved 81 of 82 closure applications, with 44 of the shuttered schools being primary institutions. Approvals there totaled 20 in 2023, then 15 and 16 in the following two years, before 30 more applications arrived so far this year, according to the report.
A similar pattern is unfolding in Małopolskie in southern Poland, where local governments have filed 67 closure requests since 2023, only nine of which were turned down, the daily said.
Behind the trend lies a steep demographic shift: 4.9 million students completed the school year this summer, 700,000 fewer than about 15 years ago. Government projections cited by the paper point to a further 19.5% drop in the number of children aged 7 to 14 within eight years, with the decline reaching roughly 30% by 2060.
The paper noted that school closures carry costs beyond falling enrollment, since primary schools often serve as centers of community life, and experts said attempts to repurpose empty school buildings have generally failed. Even so, the daily said the closures are viewed as an inevitable consequence of Poland's demographic trajectory.
(jh)
Source: PAP