This report from the Supreme Audit Office (NIK) in Poland presents the results of a review of the education of foreign children, with special attention given to children displaced from Ukraine. The review was conducted in the Ministry of Education and Science and 28 public schools in 7 provinces (Lower Silesia, Lesser Poland, Mazovia, Podkarpacie, Podlasie, Pomerania and Silesia).

The main finding of the review is that the Polish education system and the legal, organisational and financial conditions for the education of foreign children effectively meet the educational, developmental and care needs of these children, including those from Ukraine. 

On the other hand, a decree issued by the Minister of Education and Science after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, obliging guardians of children from Ukraine to inform municipalities about their children studying remotely in Ukrainian schools but not enabling local authorities to enforce this obligation, was assessed negatively. As a result, the number of Ukrainian children of school age residing in Poland and attending neither Polish nor Ukrainian schools is unknown. The media, the Ombudsman and Amnesty International have previously raised concerns about this issue. The NIK also highlighted the problem of insufficient funding provided by schools for the dedicated training of teachers who educate foreign children.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the number of foreign children in Polish schools has increased almost fivefold, from 48 449 in the 2020/2021 school year to 222 523 in the 2022/2023 school year. Over half of these attended secondary schools. Citizens of Ukraine represented the largest percentage of foreign students, accounting for 75% and 88% of the overal total respectively, followed by citizens of Belarus, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria. 

The sharp increase in the number of foreign students in Polish schools led to an increase in state educational subsidies for schools. In 2023, schools received PLN 1.1 billion (approximately EUR 256 million) for this purpose. Moreover, between January 2022 and March 2023, the Ministry of Education and Science provided local authorities running schools with nearly PLN 2.6 billion (approx. EUR 605 million) from the special aid fund for the education of children from Ukraine. A significant portion of this funding was allocated to preparatory divisions for students with insufficient knowledge of the Polish language or adaptation problems, as well as additional free Polish language classes for foreign children.