Editing Polish People's Republic (1947–1989) (section)

=== Education ===

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Pre-communist Poland saw widespread illiteracy and lack of education. According to a 1935 article from the Polish magazine ''New Courier'' (not to be confused with ''New Courier of Warsaw,'' a [[German Reich (1933–1945)|Nazi]] propaganda outlet founded in 1939):<blockquote>In Polesie in the Kobrin poviat, less than 75 percent write and read in towns, and only 52% in the countryside. In Kosowski poviat, 82% in small towns, and 43% in rural areas. In the Koszalin poviat, where there are no cities, there are only 30 percent who can read and write.

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Polesie is in fact one of the areas of the Commonwealth that is economically and culturally neglected, but, it should be remembered, not the most neglected. Unfortunately, data from the poviats of the Warsaw Province, i.e. from economically quite high standing and in orbit of the capital's influence, show that the condition is not much better there either. In the Płońsk poviat, 73% write and read in cities. population, 68% in the countryside 77 percent in Sierpc and 68 percent in Ciechanów 80% (cities) and 70% (village).

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Census statistics are current today just as much as they were three years ago. And the figures of this statistic are not only dangerous, they are terrifying.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=New Courier|title=30 procent analfabetów…|date=1935-01-10|url=http://retropress.pl/nowy-kurjer/30-procent-analfabetow/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213130613/http://retropress.pl/nowy-kurjer/30-procent-analfabetow/|archive-date=2023-02-13|retrieved=2023-02-26}}</ref></blockquote>After the communist takeover, the educational system was drastically improved. The level of illiteracy was drastically reduced. According to the Polish Encyclopedia published by PWN (the top publisher of scientific and scholarly reference works in Poland):<blockquote>As early as 1960, the census showed 645,000 total illiterates and 270,000 semi-illiterates among those over 50. In 1988, the illiteracy rate in Poland was 2%.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Polish Encyclopedia|title=Analfabetzym|url=https://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/analfabetyzm%3B3869021.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213130613/https://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/analfabetyzm;3869021.html|archive-date=2023-02-13|retrieved=2023-02-26}}</ref></blockquote>While PWN places the pre-communist literacy rates a bit higher than the ''New Courier'', we can still see the drastic improvement to the educational situation made under the communists, particularly in rural areas.

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