- As reported by the outraged group of PiS Members, students during the Olympics were to solve sentences specified as "enter the name of the threat to democracy in the Polish Republic and measure whether the threat has increased, weakened or mostly absent during the regulation of the PiS"
- PiS MPs criticise 4 Olympics organised by the association from Białystok, where successes warrant places at good Polish universities
- – Democracy was destroyed at the time, although we did not fall into authoritarianism. This is simply a state of affairs, confirmed by constitutionalists – argued the president of the Białystok Association
- More articles like this can be found on the Onetu homepage
In fresh weeks, school cognition olympics have not only been heard in the walls of advanced school students who participate in specified competitions. In December 2024 we described in Onet scandalous “flow” of questions before the prestigious Olympics of cognition about Poland and Contemporary World (coordinated at the University of Warsaw). And now the origin of further controversy becomes the questions asked by organizers of respective akin rivalries – besides for youth curious in fresh past and cognition of society.
"Questions force participants to express clear political opinions"
PiS Group (Dariusz Matecki, Sebastian Kaleta, Michał Woś, Anna Gembicka, Dariusz Stefaniuk, Andrzej Śliwka, Rafał Weber) accuses the organizers of the 4 Olympiads of "a number of irregularities that may rise doubts about their compliance with the principles of political neutrality, pluralism and objectivity". Parliamentarians did so in a parliamentary interpelling which went to the Ministry of National Education (MEN) in mid-January 2025. What are these irregularities?
As the outraged group reports, students during the Olympics were to solve sentences specified as "insert the name of the threat to democracy in the Polish Republic and measure whether the threat in question had increased, weakened or mostly absent during the regulation of the Law and Justice of the European Union" – and indicate the organisations which have spoken "critically about respect for human rights in the Polish Republic under the Law and Justice of the European Union". According to the current members of this party, already opposition, "such questions force participants to express clear political opinions, peculiarly critical of 1 of the political groups". In addition, PiS parliamentarians were to alert the Olympic participants themselves – so advanced school students.
"Politics and actors with 1 option dominate"
There's another charge in the interview. The organizers of the 4 nationwide olympics (Knowledges of the 3rd Polish Republic; cognition of Human Rights in the Contemporary World, cognition of the European Union and cognition of Society) are the Bialystok Educational and Educational Association COPTIOSH (this abbreviation is derived from the name “The Centre of the Organization of the Temano-Tamatic-Interdisciplinary Social-Historical Olympiads”). Indignant PiS MPs discover that "The sponsors and patrons of these olympics are dominated by politicians and entities associated with a single policy option, which could affect the way questions are prepared and the overall communicative in the olympics".
We have looked at the website of the Białystok Association – among the most crucial prize-founders (for example, trips to Brussels) are Vladimir Cimoszewicz (he did not win re-elections to the European Parliament in 2024 from the list of the Left) and Tadeusz Truskolaski (a year ago he was re-elected as president of Białystok from the advice of KO) or Tomasz Frankowski (a erstwhile footballer in 2024 did not receive re-elections to the Europarliament from the list of KO, Now he intends to be the mayor of the late formed municipality of Grabówka).
"The deficiency of objectivity in questions straight affects access to higher education"
Why is there another school Olympics scandal? Awards funded by sponsors or patrons are of secondary importance. advanced school students sign up for specified competitions for much more crucial benefits. For example, the winners and finalists of the Olympics, during which the scandal described by us with the leak of questions broke out, automatically receive 100% of the possible points as a consequence of the WOS graduation. The competitions criticised by the PiS Members on specified a prestigious list are not (designated MEN: this is simply a full of 17 Olympics, each provides a score of 100 percent from another elder subject), but triumph in competitions association from Białystok gives another immense benefit – a place in college without the average competition of candidates.
For example, winners and finalists of the cognition Olympiad of the 3rd Polish Republic (as its organizer informs) have a warrant of learning at law at the University of Gdańsk and at all directions of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, There's no interior exam. I That is why the outrage of the PiS Members comes to light, due to the fact that they believe, as they stated in the MEN's appeal, that "the deficiency of objectivity in questions straight affects access to higher education".
“It should be Minister Czarnek who is the addressee of the interview”
– The authors of the interview will receive an answer. However, I can already say that no of these Olympics are supervised and financed by the MEN. They do not grant any exemption from passing 1 of the elder subjects," comments Katarzyna Lubnauer, Deputy Minister of Education. – Whereas, if universities decide to take the winners listed in the Olympic explanation into their respective directions, this is due to the autonomy of higher education institutionsWe don't interfere. But specified autonomous decisions of the university attest to the advanced value of these Olympics.
According to Lubnauer, the authors of the interpelling “slightly embarrass themselves”.
– due to the fact that the questions that we checked were mentioned in the editions of the 1920s and 2022s, erstwhile the ministry was headed by Minister Czarnek, that is, Minister Czarnek should be the addressee of the PiS Members' interpellings, says Onet Lubnauer. But, as the Deputy Minister sums up, yes It is hard to require that the organizers of the Olympic cognition impose "censorship mechanism", especially since in this case we are talking about an olympic that does not give any facilitation on the matura.
“Democracy was destroyed in Poland at the time”
As we have checked, if the PiS Members had looked into the fresh tests of the organizers of the competitions from Białystok, they would inactive have something to resent. For example, at the 3rd Polish cognition Olympics last year, students answered a question about 1 of the powers of the Constitutional Court, and the author of the test stated: "not J. Przyłębska". In the autumn of 2024, in the text of the Society cognition Olympiad, young people solved the task of "neossiers" and "doublers judges".
Onet contacted Krzysztof Maleszewski on Friday, president of the COPTIOSH Educational and Educational Association, who organizes the cognition Olympiads, criticized by PiS. The president of the Sejm heard about the interpelling from Onetu, but it is not a surprise to him.
The Law and Justice thinks we're enemies. The MEN at the time of the party's government granted a number grant for students' cognition competitions respective times, and each time it evaluated the offers so as to exclude us from the grant – says Malszewski. – And in the last competition under the regulation of the Law and Justice, it was not even possible to apply the human rights, the European Union and the III of the Republic of Poland, which for the Law and Justice were "enemy".
And how does the president of the association from Białystok mention to circumstantial charges from the interpellings, including questions to the Olympic participants about “threats for democracy” in the times of the Law and Justice?
– Democracy was destroyed in Poland at the time, although we did not fall into authoritarianism. This is simply a state of affairs, confirmed by constitutionalists – said Malszewski. He adds that students should know about specified a state of affairs, especially since a large part of society about the times of the regulation of the Law and Justice already forgets.
What about another charge with the interpelled: patrons and sponsors, related to “one political option”?
– We have asked for support from different backgrounds, and our sponsors and patrons are those who responded with specified support," said Maleszewski. In addition, he claims that in 1 of the erstwhile word of Europarlament, a journey to Brussels as a prize in the Coptiosh Olympics even offered a typical of the legislature of the fresh Right.
Maleszewski confirms Onetu's reflection that he competed as a candidate for a municipal councillor in Białystok 7 years ago. I was named by Modern, but it's a one-time commitment. I am not a associate of any political organization – the president of COPTIOSH concludes.
