How Many Children from Ukraine Study in Polish Schools: Research Findings

As of October 2024, more than 200,000 children from Ukraine were attending Polish schools. Three quarters of them (152,000) arrived in the country after the start of the full-scale war. 51,000 children came before February 2022.

This information was provided by the Citizenship Education Centre / Centrum Edukacji Obywatelskiej (CEO) in the report "Students from Ukraine with Refugee Experience in Polish Schools". Read on for the details.

157,000 Children on the PESEL UKR Register Are Not Attending Polish Schools

The Citizenship Education Centre has published a new report whose authors draw on statistics from the Educational Information System, the register of persons with PESEL UKR numbers, and data from the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS). According to the Educational Information System, in the autumn of 2024 Polish schools and kindergartens were attended by 195,300 children from Ukraine. Among them: → more than 152,000 children (78%) attend primary and secondary schools; → more than 31,000 children (14%) attend kindergartens → nearly 12,000 (8%) attend courses This is a record figure since February 2022.

Meanwhile, according to the PESEL UKR register, 309,000 children from Ukraine are present on Polish territory. This database is an official state register, but experts doubt whether it accurately reflects the actual number of children currently in the country.

Taking the Educational Information System data into account, only 157,000 children are enrolled in schools. This means that 152,000 (out of 302,000) school-age children are recorded in the PESEL UKR database but are not covered by compulsory schooling.

It can be assumed that these children have left and are studying elsewhere, are attending Ukrainian schools online, or are in Poland and not studying at any school at all.

The 800+ Benefit May Have Affected School Attendance

In July 2024, the school obligation was linked to the 800+ benefit — meaning that only those parents from Ukraine whose children attend schools in Poland are now eligible for the allowance. It appears that this change had an impact on attendance, as the number of refugee children in Polish schools increased by 13.5% (18,100 people) — to 152,300. It is worth noting that 151,000 parents receive payments from ZUS. The report's authors note that tying the 800+ benefit to compulsory schooling may have particularly affected the presence in schools of young people aged 15–17.

4% of Pupils in Polish Schools Are Ukrainian

According to data from the Citizenship Education Centre, for every 100 pupils in Polish schools, 4 are Ukrainian. Students from Ukraine attend nearly 12,500 Polish schools (58% of all schools). In the 2024/2025 academic year, a further 335 schools were joined by children from Ukraine. Approximately 70% of refugee pupils from Ukraine in Polish secondary schools are studying at technical colleges or vocational schools.

Among Ukrainian pupils, this figure is 15% higher than among Polish pupils. The report's authors explain this by two factors — the desire of Ukrainian teenagers to obtain a qualification more quickly, or the selection process following the eighth-grade examination (a test in mathematics, Polish and a foreign language, the results of which determine where a pupil studies next).

The report also states that more than 42% of pupils from Ukraine attend additional Polish-as-a-foreign-language classes. In April 2024, the figure was 60%. The report's authors say this change should be cause for concern, as knowledge of Polish is a prerequisite for successful study in the Polish education system and for integration into society.

Poland Plans to Assess the Level of Polish Language Proficiency Among Ukrainian Children

Recently, at a conference dedicated to children and young people from Ukraine, Deputy Minister of Education Joanna Mucha announced the ministry's intention to assess how well Ukrainian children know the Polish language. This is to be done in order to identify which pupils need additional support in learning Polish. No such assessments have been carried out to date.

Polish schools organise free Polish language classes for children from Ukraine who do not speak Polish or speak it poorly. However, according to Joanna Mucha, teachers often do not know how to teach such groups, and the instruction itself has no verification system in place.

In the Deputy Minister's view, the Polish government has not done enough to help children from Ukraine integrate into the Polish education system. It should be recalled that Ukrainian pupils were invited into Polish schools in 2022, but compulsory schooling was only introduced from the 2024/2025 academic year.

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