Coalition unity to be tested in school leaving age vote

Lower house of parliament (Sejm): photo - PAP/Radek Pietruszka

The centre-right coalition, led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, wants the school starting age reduced from seven to six years-old for all children by 2015.

The government has been trying to lower the age of starting school since 2009, but parent groups have resisted the change and currently some children are starting school at six and others at seven in some schools, resulting in mixed ages attending first year classes.

Parents groups have collected nearly a million signatures calling for a referendum on the reduction to the school starting age - which would bring Poland in line with a majority of countries within the EU - and opposition parties have forced a vote on the issue

The ruling Civic Platform/Polish Peasants Party (PSL) coalition currently have 232 MPs in parliament, with opposition parties counting on 228, so the government is calling for a 100 percent turnout from its members to defeat the call for a referendum on Friday.

Two PSL MPs, however, Eugeniusz Kłopotek and Andrzej Dąbrowski, have threatened to vote with the opposition.

Kłopotek told reporters after a meeting of PSL MPs on Thursday evening that he would, "vote with his conscience so he can look at himself in the mirror on Saturday morning".

The government could be saved by the vote of an independent left/liberal MP and deputy speaker of the lower house of parliament Wanda Nowicka, who has indicated that she could vote to oppose the referendum.

If the coalition does lose the vote in parliament then PM Tusk will call into question the ability of the PSL leadership to maintain voting discipline among its MPs and an early general election could be called.

Poland is scheduled to go to the ballot box in 2015. (pg)

source: PAP