Education is compulsory for children from the age of 6 to 18 years old. Public schools are tuition-free; however, there are a number of paid private schools.
6-year-old children enter six-year period of education at the elementary school level. (Since 1 of September 2015 every 6 years old children will be obligated to go to school.) Curriculum of the first three grades does not cover multiple subjects (so called integrated education) and the classes are taught by a single home room teacher. This gives children time to adapt to the school environment and learn to read and write. Teaching specific subjects does not start until the fourth grade. In the sixth grade, Central Education Commission verifies the knowledge and skills of the pupils during the nation-wide examination. The results of the examination have no influence on completion of elementary education or enrollment to public gymnasiums, which emphasizes the informational purpose of the exam. The main admission criterion for gymnasium enrollment is pupil’s place of residence.
Upper secondary level schools differ in scope and length of the education and type of the final examination upon its completion:
Post-secondary schools offer complementary education for the graduates of the secondary level education. Completing this type of school takes two and a half years at most.
Polish higher education system is based on the Bologna process, which comprises:
Educational offer of the Lower Silesian region ensures availability of workers with desirable professional qualifications. Lower Silesian voivodship is one of the leading educational centers in Poland, both in respect to the number of students and the quality of knowledge obtained by young people living in the region. Two high schools from Wroclaw occupy top positions in the ranking of Polish upper secondary schools published by Rzeczpospolita and Perspektywy: XIV LO im. Polonii Belgijskiej general secondary school and III LO im. Adama Mickiewicza School.
The key role in higher education in Lower Silesia region is played by Wroclaw University of Technology, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wroclaw Medical University and Wroclaw University of Economics. Most of the young people from the Wroclaw region move to the regional capital after finishing secondary schools.
During the academic year 2013/2014, there were 147 thousand elementary schools pupils, nearly 78 thousand gymnasium students and nearly 84 thousand students of upper secondary level schools, among which general schools and technical schools enjoyed the greatest popularity.