The parliament against referendum on school reforms

The Polish parliament voted against holding a nation-wide referendum on the government’s school reform program with 236 MPs against, and 210 in favor of the bid. The referendum bid was organized by the teachers' unions which gathered 910,000 signatures under the petition to hold the vote on the reforms. The school reform bill, signed into law in January, dissolves three-year middle schools and prolongs elementary education to eight years, and high school education to four. Previously, Polish students attended a six-year elementary school, three-year middle school, and three-year high-school. The system was introduced in 2000. The new one will be implemented at the beginning of the school year in September. The reforms sparked protests across, with teachers fearing they will lose their jobs, with fewer schools being needed, and parents, which claimed that the reforms were being implemented too fast, and without a clear plan, which caused chaos, as children still don’t know which school will they attend after the holidays.