Anna Elżbieta Zalewska (née Gąsior; born 6 July 1965) is a Polish politician, and former Minister of National Education, serving 2015 to 2019. Since 2007, Zalewska has been a Member of the

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...

and she has worked there until a transition to the minister.

Life

Zalewska graduated from the Polish Philology Department of the

University of Wrocław , ''Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau'' (before 1945) , free_label = Specialty programs , free = , colors = Blue , website uni.wroc.pl The University of Wrocław ( pl, Uniwersytet Wrocławski, U ...

in 1989. She first worked as teacher and deputy director of the

Świebodzice Świebodzice (; szl, Frybork; german: Freiburg) is a town in south-western Poland with 22,793 inhabitants (). It is situated in Świdnica County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship (from 1975–1998 it was in the former Wałbrzych Voivodeship). T ...

High School. She joined liberal, democratic political party Freedom Union and subsequently moved to Law and Justice founded by

Lech Lech may refer to: People * Lech (name), a name of Polish origin * Lech, the legendary founder of Poland * Lech (Bohemian prince) Products and organizations * Lech (beer), Polish beer produced by Kompania Piwowarska, in Poznań * Lech Poznań, ...

and

Jarosław Kaczyński Jarosław Aleksander Kaczyński (; born 18 June 1949) is a Polish politician who is currently serving as leader of the Law and Justice party (known by its Polish acronym PiS), which he co-founded in 2001 with his twin brother, Lech Kaczyński, ...

in 2001. From 2002 to 2007, Zalewska sat on the provincial council of the

Świdnica County __NOTOC__ Świdnica County ( pl, powiat świdnicki) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, south-western Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local ...

, and since 2006, served a second function of deputy starosta in the same office. She ran for Parliament first in 2005, but unsuccessfully. In

2007 Polish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 21 October 2007, Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1491 after the Sejm voted for its own dissolution on 7 September. The election took place two years b ...

, she was elected Member of Sejm from a list of the Law and Justice Party. She ran in the

Wałbrzych Wałbrzych (; german: Waldenburg; szl, Wałbrzich; sli, label= Lower Silesian, Walmbrig or ''Walmbrich''; cs, Valbřich or ) is a city located in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in southwestern Poland. From 1975–1998 it was the capital of Wa ...

electoral district and won with 10,584 votes. In 2011, she was re-elected to Parliament in the same electoral district with 14,999 votes. In 2009 and 2014, she unsuccessfully ran for the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

. In 2015, she was re-elected to Polish Parliament

, winning 22,402 votes. On 16 November 2015, she was appointed Minister of Education in the acting government of

Beata Szydło Beata Maria Szydło (, née Kusińska , 15 April 1963) is a Polish politician who has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2019. A member of Law and Justice (PiS), she previously served as Prime Minister of Poland from 2015 ...

. During her term of office as Minister of Education, in April 2019 there was a nationwide strike which lasted for 19 days in 78% of schools which had conducted the strike ballot. The strike ended with the agreement of the parties.

References

External links

Sejm profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zalewska, Anna 1965 births Polish schoolteachers Government ministers of Poland Education ministers Law and Justice politicians Living people Members of the Polish Sejm 2007–2011 Members of the Polish Sejm 2011–2015 MEPs for Poland 2019–2024 Women MEPs for Poland People from Świebodzice University of Wrocław alumni