Access to Education

Poland's 1998 report reviews inequalities in access to education against the background of human rights, of long-term changes in human development, as well as new requirements for learning determined by the needs of the "knowledge society". The NHDR 1998 reveals that sub-regional disparities in human development have increased in Poland. The pattern of these disparities, however, have not changed, with the lowest levels of human development in rural areas and the highest in regions with large urban centres. The report contains many concrete policy recommendations to improve the uneven quality of education provision. These include, improvement of early child education through better access to kindergartens, improvement of mobility within the school system to ensure better access to full secondary education, restoration of the social functions of schools and provision of free public tertiary education.