Poland's Education Minister Roman Giertych: help pregnant teens at school

Polish Ministry of Education is surveying schools to find out about the situation of pregnant teenagers.

Polish Ministry of Education has requested information from schools on the situation of underage mothers and mothers-to-be. Specifically, the ministry wants to find out, what kind of help is provided to teenagers in a difficult situation, so they can continue their education - whether maternity leaves, convenient exam schedules and financial help are available for underage mothers.

Education Minister, Roman Giertych:

'If Polish schools are obliged to provide all the necessary help to a pregnant students, then we have to have the knowledge to know how to supervise this.'

Data collected from schools will serve as basis for a program assisting young women in difficult situation with their educational perspectives. The program is to ensure that pregnant teens do not face discrimination and are not pressured into having an abortion, but get the necessary help and support from school institutions.

Some students confirm that pregant schoolgirls are at times subjected to improper treatment:

'They are laughed at and singled out. That girl had a bad reputation afterwards and she was bullied.'

Mirosław Mikołajczyk is a teacher with over 15 years of experience at schools of different levels. Mikołajczyk has not personally witnessed discrimination directed against at pregnant girls at school, but still welcomes any effort aimed at supporting students in difficult position:

'I haven't met wvery many pregnant students in my career, just five or six maybe over the last 15 years. But, as I recall, they have always been approached by the teachers and by the headmaster of the school with greatest care, they were given opportunities to complete their examinations, they were offered help nad assistance by both the management of the school and the teaching staff. However, if the proposals coming from the ministry now are aimed at making this help more systematic, I would of course welcome this idea, since those girls actually need this help, instead of being pressured into abortion by some groups or organizations.'

Part of the ministerial project is to provide special funding for individual tutorials for girls, whose health situation makes it problematic for them to attend regular classes. Education Minister Roman Giertych again:

'During pregnancy there can be situations when a woman cannot participate in regular classes. It would be a good idea to provide funds to enable such a woman to continue her education.'

Ewa Ćwikła, headmaster of a junior high school in Łódź is of the opinion that it is hospitals and not schools which should be surveyed about the numbers of underage mothers:

'Schools will have some data on this, but hospitals would, I think, be a better place to look for information on children born to teenagers.'

Grażyna Olszewska from the Education Ministry responds:

'We are asking about the kind of help provided to pregnant students, and not just statistical data about the number of underage mothers.'

Following the Ministry of Education request for schools to provide information on pregnant teenagers, the liberal Gazeta Wyborcza attacked Education Minister Roman Giertych, accusing him of of interfering with the privacy of pregnant teenagers. Roman Giertych responded that he would sue Gazeta Wyborcza, as the articles in Gazeta Wyborcza were, as he put it, spreading lies. The Ministry never requested personal information on any student, but was just interested in whether pregnant teens receive the necessary help and support from school institutions.

'We should do all we can so that women in this situation are protected by the state,' Minister Giertych was quoted as saying.

Where did you go to school?

It was a small independent school district near Waco, Texas. The principal or superintendent would bust your ass if necessary. And the boys couldn't have long hair, sideburns, facial hair, earrings, etc. And the girls couldn't wear short skirts, shirts that showed off their tits, etc. It was very much stuck in the 1950's. But I feel better for having gone there. I understand that the school changed a lot when the superintendent died in 1995, at the age of 98. But I'm glad I went there and I'm glad for the much needed discipline that they imposed.

In 1968 in Mesa, AZ the Vice Principal enforced the following rules:

No T-shirts
No boys with untucked shirt tails
No boy's hair long enough to touch the shirt collar
No radios
No gum
No girls skirts more than one-inch above the knee (kneeling)
No open toed shoes
No spaghetti strap dresses
No pants for girls

But, that's the year they started a day nursery on campus for teenage mothers.

The program is to ensure that pregnant teens do not face discrimination and are not pressured into having an abortion, but get the necessary help and support from school institutions.

Of course it is not okay if she had sex as a kid and it was idiotic to do it without contraception, but if a baby is on its way this should not play a role anymore. The price the girl is paying through having the baby much too young is for sure high enough. All of us have the obligation to help a young mother as good as we can.

That is basically a very good thing to do. If a teen-pregnancy happens the girl needs help from the father, her friends and her family. The society and school have to support her too. Everything else would be unchristian and immoral since it forces the girl into abortion and depression.

That's exatcly the point. Plus, especially nowadays, both the mom and the unexpected baby must feel welcome in society.

That's exatcly the point. Plus, especially nowadays, both the mom and the unexpected baby must feel welcome in society.

Yep. A classmate of me got her first baby when she was 13. It was obviously the outcome of a rape but she carried the baby out. Her mother dismissed her because of the "scandal" (idiotic - but they came from a very small village in Bavaria near the Alps), but a aunt in my hometown gave her shelter. We all were very friendly to her and tried to be as helpful as we could although it is quite strange for such young teenagers (this was in 1985 in southern Germany) to be confronted with a pregnancy. Our school made a agreement that she could leave lessons whenever she wanted to feed her child and to take care of it. Over the day her aunt looked after her baby.

Today I have to say that it was of course the best thing to do and the German liberalism is not bad in this point. Nevertheless the kid and the duty from it was somehow a desaster in the girls live since she was a kid herself and not able to deal with the situation. Her performance in school turned bad although she was a quite intelligent girl and our school did what was possible in this situation. After all it is of course the best for young teenagers to act responsible with their sexuality (in this case the girl was not to blame of course since it was the outcome of a rape) and to aviod pregnancies until they are able to marry. If such happens we have to help but society and church should intercede that the best thing to do is to act in traditional ways.

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