The amendment to the rules will make school attendance obligatory, and a requirement for refugees living in Poland to receive welfare benefits.

Just how many could arrive at school gates on September 2 remains unclear but on Wednesday, Joanna Mucha, a deputy education minister, said in an interview with Polish media that there could be as many as 75,000 Ukrainian children in Poland who are not attending mainstream schools.

These children, many of whom do not speak Polish owing to having been in the Ukrainian education system, will be legally required to attend a school system that some claim is already creaking due to insufficient resources.

“Ukrainian children must be supported and that is non-negotiable. Right from the start of the war, we have been clear that those children need to be at school and not alone, working online,” Magdalena Kaszulanis, a spokesperson for the Polish Teachers’ Union, told TVP World:

“However, the way this new law is being implemented may increase the workload of teachers and this will affect the quality of education, especially when dealing with children who do not speak Polish,” she added.

Ukrainian pupils are expected to join every year group, starting at the pre-kindergarten level, with the only exception being students in their final years who can complete their education in Ukrainian schools online.

The government, meanwhile, has sought to allay fears of potential problems caused by overcrowding.

“We need to wait for the start of the school year to be able to quantify the actual number of children but – rest assured – we are ready,” Piotr Otrębski, a spokesperson for the education ministry, told TVP World.

He added: “We have bilingual materials that inform Ukrainians how these changes [to the legislation] will work.”