http://www2.polskieradio.pl/eo/dokument.aspx?iid=109945

Poland seeks to bridge education divide

10.06.2009

The standard of education is significantly lower in Polish villages compared to larger cities, the Central Examination Commission reveals.  

 

Yesterday, results of the final secondary school exams, taken every year by 16 year old students in Poland, were published. The results, divided into three parts: humanities, maths and nature, and modern language, show that pupils in rural areas are disproportionately failing compared to their urban counterparts.  

 

Kids in the cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants got 33,32 points on average – out of a maximum of 50 – in humanities, while their peers in the villages acheived 2.44 points less. The difference concerning maths and nature test was even bigger – 3.17.  

 

The most significant difference relates to the language exam.

 

“We have two kinds of English in Poland: ‘urban English’ and ‘rural English’. The results are a warning for schools and education authorities. One needs to check who is teaching English and what methods are being used,” Krzysztof Konarzewski, director of Central Examination Commission told Gazeta Wyborcza. 

 

According to the results, kids from villages are much weaker in English than their big-city mates – in fact, on average, six points separates those two groups. 

 

“Within three years we want to close the huge gap between village and city – it is a big challenge for the education system,” says Konarzewski. 

 

Villages fight back – in Russian!

 

But there are also positive surprises concerning education in rural areas. Results in the Russian language test went surprising well. In fact, pupils from villages did much better than kids from big cities in the Slavic language. Rural pupils scored 37 points on average, compared to 25.45 in larger towns and cities – a difference of 11.55 points. 

 

Experts explain the difference by pointing out that teachers of Russian fell from grace at the beginning of the post-communism transition. After decades of compulsory lessons in Big Brother’s language, Poles preferred to start learning English. Many experienced teachers consequently moved to villages because it was hard for them to find job in the cities. (jg/pmg)