Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski clarified that his son will continue attending health education classes after media reports suggested otherwise.
Trzaskowski Responds to Media Reports
After media reports claimed that Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski had removed his son from health education classes, Trzaskowski quickly addressed the speculation. “To all those interested in my family, I inform you that my son will attend health education classes (in a combined, inter-group setting),” he wrote on X. “I encourage everyone else to participate in this very necessary subject,” he added.
Opposition Seizes on the Issue
The information about Trzaskowski’s son being removed from health education classes spread through media on Monday evening (September 29) via the portal Niezalezna.pl, which cited two anonymous sources. The outlet claimed that the decision to drop the classes was made jointly by the mayor and his wife, and that the entire class of teenagers would opt out. The reports were quickly picked up by other media outlets and opposition politicians, who cited it as a symbol of the failure of Education Minister Barbara Nowacka and Prime Minister Donald Tusk in introducing the new subject.
Controversy Over Health Education
Some of the strongest opponents of the new health education subject are politicians and supporters of the opposition party Law and Justice (PiS). Warsaw Mayor Karol Nawrocki has already removed his son from these classes. In August, Jarosław Kaczyński warned that, in his opinion, the classes “demoralize youth.” “This is all part of a great operation to make us weak and stupid,” said the PiS president during a tour of Poland. The Church also discouraged parents from enrolling their children in the classes, with the Polish Episcopal Conference stating that the subject aims to completely change the perception of family and love.
On Monday, September 29, Education Minister Barbara Nowacka commented on the bishops’ statements in the “Gość Radia Zet” program. “The Episcopal Conference’s position is based on falsehoods. They do not refer to the program’s foundations but rather to their own imagination or engage in pure politics,” she stated.
