Czarnek praises Nowacka's school phone ban amid knife attacks in Polish schools

Czarnek backs social media limits and the phone ban

Przemysław Czarnek, a PiS vice-president and the party's candidate for prime minister, was asked on RMF FM on Friday about limiting children's access to social media. He said he fully supports such limits and argued that social media is doing serious damage to young people. He also praised the education ministry's decision to ban phones in schools, which took effect on 1 September 2026 and covers kindergartens and primary schools. Secondary schools set their own device rules in individual school statutes. Czarnek did not settle on a minimum age, saying he would first have to consult specialists.

Today social media is really wreaking havoc in the heads of young people, and it grows bigger from year to year.

He added that the phone ban was the only ministry decision he could credit, while insisting that school is only part of a child's life.

The only decision for which I can praise the Ministry of Education is precisely this one, that children do not use smartphones at school. But school is only part of children's lives, and there is still home.

Knife attacks in Mazovia

On Wednesday, a 19-year-old named as Jakub Z. attacked students and staff at Zespół Szkół Zawodowych nr 4 in Ostrołęka. Do Rzeczy reports that he stabbed five pupils and two teachers, while Rzeczpospolita counts nine victims, including two bystanders, and says he also carried a backpack with homemade explosive material. On Thursday morning, a 15-year-old former pupil attacked the primary school in Leszczydół-Nowiny, killing a school caretaker according to Do Rzeczy. Rzeczpospolita reports that the attack wounded three people, one of them fatally. On Wednesday police also detained a 17-year-old in Sierpc, who allegedly told classmates he planned to "do something." One attacker wore a helmet with a camera for transmitting footage, which prompted reports of an alleged challenge among pupils. Police are verifying these reports and have not confirmed them.

Nowacka's response and ministry measures

At a morning press briefing on Thursday, Education Minister Barbara Nowacka thanked the Ostrołęka school community for what she called a wise, responsible and swift reaction, and then turned to school safety.

Children and young people are safe in schools. The school is one of the safest places for a child.

Nowacka said the ministry is preparing a programme under which every school will hold at least one meeting this year with representatives of the security services on safety procedures. A ministry safety guide contains concrete advice on how to act during a knife attack, and the Kompas jutra reform requires one tutoring hour per month to cover patriotic or defence topics. First-aid classes have also been introduced, she said.

Schools can respond in crisis situations, but we see a need to strengthen these actions.

Czarnek's proposals and the clash with Tusk

Czarnek called for stronger monitoring of school buildings, a ban on entry for outsiders, fast alerts to police, and training for everyone responsible for school security, from principals to caretakers. He said extra police patrols near schools were the right response in the current situation. He also said that if he were a school director he would close the school that day and ask parents to sit with their children and talk to them, so that the situation could calm down before deciding what to do from Monday. He then criticised Prime Minister Donald Tusk over the president's veto of a law that would have allowed blocking dangerous content online.

The premier of today's government behaved yesterday like a political hyena. In a scandalously irresponsible way, using this tragic case only a few hours after it happened, he attacked the president on a matter that has nothing to do with what happened yesterday.

Online rules in Parliament and the EU proposal

On Thursday the Sejm passed an amendment to the law implementing the Digital Services Act (DSA). On 16 September, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced that the Commission would propose banning social media for children under 13, and that accounts would not be possible until age 15. The education ministry prepared its own draft under which a total ban on social media would cover children under 15, going further than the Commission proposal. Ministry representatives say the aim is protecting children from violence, hate and peer pressure, reducing alienation, and supporting healthy development and relationships. The sequence of these events is shown below.