Education in Poland is free and compulsory for
eight years between the ages of seven and 14 years. Before the age of seven,
children may attend cr¸ches (zlobki) and kindergartens (przedszkola). In 1990
46% of children between the ages of three and six years attended kindergarten,
and 90% of six years old attended pre-school educational establishments. Basic
schooling begins at seven years of age with the eight-year school (szkola
podstawowa). Curricula are uniform through Poland. There is a small number of
private schools, administered under state supervision. In 1989 the Roman
Catholic Church was granted the right to operate its own schools.
Secondary education is provided free of charge to
candidates who are successful in the entrance examination, and in 1990 about
75% attended vocational and technical schools (technika zawodowe), or basic
vocational schools (zasadnicze szkoly). Vocational technical schools provide
five-year courses of general education and vocational training together, and
can lead to qualifications for entering higher educational establishments.
Children who leave the eight-years school to
continue with their education enter general secondary schools (liceum
ogolnoksztalcace), where four-year courses lead to college or university
entrance. In 1990/91 there were 96 higher educational establishments in Poland,
including 11 universities and 18 technical universities. Expenditure from the
government budget on education for 1990 was 28,249,900m.zlotys (14.6% of total budgetary-expenditure).
Polish higher education is provided by 110
institutions for 495 thousand people, three quarters of those full-time
students. Woman constitute of half of the studying population. Most young
people study at universities (160.000) and technical colleges (80.000), less
popular are teacher training colleges, agricultural and medical schools.