Background information

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. As a result of Russian aggression, many Ukrainian refugees fled to Poland.

On 12 March 2022, the special act regarding Ukrainian refugees entered into force (Dz.U. 2022 poz. 583), with effect from 24 February 2022. Its aim is to provide assistance to Ukrainians escaping the territory of Ukraine due to armed conflict.

Content of measure

According to the law, all children who are not Polish citizens are granted access to education and care in public kindergartens under the same conditions as Polish citizens. According to the provisions of the new Act, the limits on the number of children in nurseries, kindergartens and schools will not apply to Ukrainian citizens who legally reside in Poland. Additionally, in schools and kindergartens, special teaching, educational and care activities for Ukrainians may be organised.

The monthly costs of education are estimated in three variants, depending on the amount of Ukrainian children:

1. 100,000 children - PLN 168,300,000 (approx. €35.8 million)
2. 150,000 children - PLN 252,400,000 (approx. €53.6 million)
3. 200,000 children - PLN 336,600,000 (approx. €71.5 million)

Schools receive money from the government unless they decide to organise extra activities and initiatives, in which case local governments have to finance it.

Ukrainian students, who entered Poland on or after 24 February 2022, can apply for and receive social scholarships and student loans. Furthermore, people who arrived from Ukraine to Poland, and until 24 February 2022, were students of Ukrainian universities, can continue their education at Polish universities. Polish and Ukrainian citizens do not need to have documents to certify their study periods or exams.

Use of measure

According to the statistical data published by the Polish government, on 17 May 2022, there were 564 registered students from Ukraine, who started their education in Poland after 24 February 2022 for the first time. In addition, there were 921 registered students from Ukraine, who continued their education in Poland after 24 February 2022. According to the Deputy Minister of Education Marzena Machałek, there were almost 192,000 Ukrainian children enrolled in Polish schools on 26 April 2022.

According to the Ministry of Education and Science, as of November 2022, there were 191,000 Ukrainian students enrolled in Polish schools after 24 February 2022, while the total number of Ukrainian students in Poland is between 400,000 and 500,000.

According to the Ministry 1,500 students are continuing their studies in Poland in the academic year 2022/23 as part of the solidarity programme with Ukraine.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Does not apply to businesses	Children (minors) Youth (18-25) Migrants or refugees Students

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Local / regional government	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

Unknown.

Views and reactions

Unknown.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 07 March 2022: Rządowy projekt ustawy o pomocy obywatelom Ukrainy w związku z konfliktem zbrojnym na terytorium tego państwa (orka.sejm.gov.pl)
• 12 March 2022: Ustawa z dnia 12 marca 2022 r. o pomocy obywatelom Ukrainy w związku z konfliktem zbrojnym na terytorium tego państwa (isap.sejm.gov.pl)
• 26 April 2022: Marzena Machałek: W polskich szkołach mamy 192 tysiące uczniów z Ukrainy (www.radiowroclaw.pl)
• 16 May 2022: The number of Ukrainian student in Poland - data as of May 16,2022 (dane.gov.pl)
• 30 January 2023: "Whether anyone understood or not - we will find out later." Ukrainian children in Polish schools (oko.press)
• 14 February 2023: KRASP: Over 21,000 students study at universities in Poland. students from Ukraine (glos.pl)