Education Minister Barbara Nowacka announces changes to the law that would allow school principals to confiscate potentially dangerous items from pupils. Chief Police Commissioner Gen. Insp. Marek Boroń wants pupils to be required to show the contents of their backpacks.
The announcements follow a series of incidents at schools in the Masovia region. According to media reports, on Thursday at a primary school in Leszczydół-Nowiny, a 15-year-old pupil attacked three people. Afterwards, a wave of threats appeared online.
What the Ministry of Education is proposing
On Monday, 12 October, Nowacka told RMF FM that work is underway on regulations that would formally support principals. According to her, today neither a principal nor a teacher may search a backpack or confiscate an item that may, but need not, be dangerous. As an example, she cited a screwdriver or a hammer. A knife can be confiscated, because this follows from Interior Ministry regulations.
The minister noted that the ministry had already tried to introduce such powers in the act on pupils’ rights and duties, but the act was vetoed. The provision is to return with the planned amendment. The changes are also meant to give principals the ability to refuse entry to outsiders and to respond when there is suspicion that a pupil has drugs.
Nowacka opposed installing security gates in every school. In her view, schools are places of public trust, and gates could paralyse their work. She does, however, want schools to be able to have tools for detecting dangerous items. She considered locks that allow classrooms to be locked from the inside a possible solution, but one not available to everyone.
Police: "show what you have on you"
Chief Police Commissioner Gen. Insp. Marek Boroń told RMF FM that police will be at schools for as long as it is needed. In his view, principals should above all introduce clear rules for checking backpacks. His words: “we must demand that young people show what they have on them”.
Since Monday, patrols have returned to the area around schools and will operate until further notice. Police spokeswoman Sub-Inspector Iwona Kijowska explained that officers may check a backpack when they consider it justified, e.g. when there is suspicion that a pupil has a dangerous item. The police reported that on Friday around 24,000 officers took part in the operation, and by Saturday nearly 50,000 facilities had been checked and 76 people detained. Most detentions concern online threats; dangerous tools were found less often. The commissioner spoke of 110 items secured, including knives, machetes, air pellet guns and bottles of petrol.
What it means
For now, nothing changes in the regulations: a principal still cannot search a backpack on their own. Changing this requires amending the act, and the previous attempt was blocked by a veto, so the fate of the bill depends on the entire legislative process. As of publication, no timeline or draft text has been given. Until then, parents and pupils must expect police presence outside schools and checks carried out within officers’ powers.
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