Poland wants to protect school students’ right to choose their own clothes and hairstyle

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland’s education ministry is seeking to introduce measures to give students greater rights to choose their own appearance, such as clothing and hairstyles, when attending school.

Pupils should “have the right to shape their own attire and appearance” and should be free “from discrimination for any reason”, says deputy education minister Katarzyna Lubnauer, quoted by the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

In Poland, students are usually free to wear their own clothes to school, very few of which have a formal uniform. However, each school has its own statute, in which it can place restrictions on students’ attire and appearance – for example, banning certain types of clothing, jewellery, or hairstyles and colours.

That is often a bone of contention for students and parents, with some criticising what they see as overly strict rules and excessive enforcement of them.

In November, the headteacher of a high school in Kraków was suspended following an outcry after he sent a student to a local hairdresser to have his head shaven during classes as his hairstyle contravened school rules.

That incident prompted Katarzyna Matusik-Lipiec, an MP from the centrist Civic Coalition (KO), Poland’s main ruling party, to ask the education ministry about the issue. She said that the principal in Kraków had “subjected [his student] to psychological and physical violence” by forcing him to cut his hair.

While schools can set dress codes, “this does not authorise interference with elements of a student’s individual expression, such as hair colour or styling”, wrote Matusik-Lipiec.

In response, Lubnauer confirmed that the ministry is working on regulations that would guarantee students more freedom to decide on their own appearance.

However, she added that it would still be required for pupils to “dress in accordance with generally accepted social norms” and that clothing which “incites hatred, is discriminatory, violates legal regulations, or poses a threat to safety…is prohibited”.

In a further statement, the education ministry added that the current lack of any central regulation regarding appearance has “resulted in a chaotic situation on a nationwide scale”. It noted that many individual school dress codes have been found to he inconsistent with the law and overturned.

The new measures being worked on by the ministry will provide “clear rules” that will both respect the “universal right of every citizen to shape one’s appearance” while still giving schools the right to intervene in certain cases.

It added that the recent situation in Kraków reinforces the importance of having such regulations in place. The measures will be part of a broader bill the ministry is working on to clarify the rights and responsibilities of school students.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Robert Robaszewski / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Ben Koschalka

Ben Koschalka is a translator, lecturer, and senior editor at Notes from Poland. Originally from Britain, he has lived in Kraków since 2005.