The Polish Parliament has passed a law to support the development of digital competencies for students and teachers. The project focuses on equipping fourth-grade students in public and private primary schools with laptops. Additionally, the law introduces vouchers for the purchase of laptops for public primary school teachers. The law was approved by 434 deputies, with 11 against and 7 abstentions.
Previously, the Parliament adopted five amendments proposed by the Law and Justice party during the second reading of the bill. These amendments serve to provide further clarification. However, a proposed amendment by the Civic Coalition, which would have allowed laptops or tablets to be provided to students, was rejected.
According to the law, fourth-grade students will receive laptops annually starting from the 2023/2024 school year. This also applies to students in public and private art schools offering general education. The purchase of laptops will be centrally managed by the office serving the Minister for Digitalization, based on the number of students in each year group. The laptops will be delivered to school authorities, who will then hand them over to the parents of fourth-grade students by September 30th.
The laptop provided to the student will become the property of their parents. The transfer will be carried out based on an agreement between the school or institution and the student’s parents. A student can receive only one laptop funded by public funds, and if they have already received a device through another program, the parents will need to decide which laptop the student will use.
Teachers will receive vouchers worth 2500 PLN for the purchase of a laptop or a browser-based laptop. The Minister for Digitalization will determine the eligible groups of teachers and their priority order. Teachers will be able to apply for the voucher through the teleinformatics system, and the ministry will provide a list of stores accepting the vouchers. Payment using the voucher must be made in a single transaction, and the voucher will be valid until December 31st, 2025.
The adoption of the law on supporting the development of digital competencies for students and teachers aims to increase access to digital technology in education. This will enable better preparation of students for the challenges of the digital world and allow teachers to utilize modern educational tools. Additionally, the laptops provided to students will be their property for a period of 5 years, thus preventing unauthorized disposal of the devices.