Opposition party wants minister to quit over sacking teachers comment

Poland's Left party has called for the education minister to resign after he said about 100,000 teachers will have to be fired due to a falling number of children because of a demographic decline.

Przemyslaw Czarnek, the education minister, said in a private radio interview on Thursday that over the next two to three years some 100,000 teachers will have to be made redundant due to a huge demographic decline, especially in high schools.

The Left's Monika Falej said at a press conference on Friday that Czarnek was trying to intimidate teachers instead of creating an efficient education policy.

"The year is ending and the minister starts a new year with an announcement that he is going to fire teachers," Falej said. "It is not an education policy, it is an intimidation policy.

"Please, hand in your resignation," Falej urged Czarnek.

Wanda Nowicka, also of the Left, accused Czarnek and his government, led by the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, of incompetence when it came to shaping a successful demographic policy.

"Minister Czarnek has no vision or ideas of how to deal with the demographic crisis except for firing teachers," Nowicka said.

Teachers have been at odds with the current government for several years, and have staged a few nationwide protests, complaining that they are not being listened to and are being treated unfairly when it comes to wage increases.

In his interview, Czarnek said 100,000 of the total of 700,000 teachers will have to be let go in the next two to three years, but added that no dismissals will be made in 2023.

Among possible solutions to the problem, which has been caused by a demographic shift in society and, consequently, diminishing numbers of students, Czarnek named early retirement.