Branislav Gröhling (born 6 April 1974 in

Partizánske Partizánske (, meaning "partisan town", formerly: ''Šimonovany'', from 1948: ''Baťovany'', ) is a town in Trenčín Region, Slovakia. Geography Partizánske is located in the northern part of the Danubian Hills around from Nitra and from t ...

) is a Slovak politician who has served as a member of the National Council. Previously, he had served as the Minister of Education, Science, Research and Sports between 2020 and 2022.

Early life

Gröhling trained as a

shoemaker Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand, often by groups of shoemakers, or '' cordwainers'' (sometimes misidentified as cobblers, who repair shoes rather than make them). In the 18th cen ...

in his hometown of

, but never practiced the trade. Instead, he became a popular hairdresser and stylist, eventually becoming the owner of hairdressing chain in

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

called Pierot. While running his business, he faced a shortage of skilled labor, which motivated him to start promoting service trades education, in particular in the beauty and gastronomy industries.

Political career

Gröhling was elected as a member of the National Council in the

2016 Slovak parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 5 March 2016 to elect the 150 members of the National Council. The ruling left-wing populist Direction – Social Democracy (Smer) party remained the strongest party, but lost its majority. The ...

on the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party list. After the 2020 Slovak parliamentary election he became the Minister of Education. As a minister, he had to cope with the impact of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the influx of children refugees escaping the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

and the efforts to implement curriculum reform and to reform the underperforming education system. He earned praise for being open to dialogue, but also criticism for a lack of specific results. In September 2022, he resigned along with other SaS ministers due to disagreement with politics of Igor Matovič. At the party congress on 17 March 2024, Gröhling replaced the founding party leader

Richard Sulík Richard Sulík (; born 12 January 1968) is a Slovak politician, economist and businessman. He is the leader of the political party Freedom and Solidarity and served as Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Economy in Government of ...

after 15 years on the helm of Freedom and Solidarity.

Plagiarism allegations

At the age of 35 in 2009, Gröhling graduated from Pan-European University, majoring in law. Nine years later, ''

Denník N ''Denník N'' is a Slovakia, Slovak daily newspaper and a news website which was founded by the former members of the editorial board of ''Sme'' in 2014. History In 2014, the Namav, a subject subvented by the Penta Investments group, announce ...

'' reported that Gröhling's final thesis was

plagiarized Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of anothe ...

. When the plagiarism scandal of the Speaker of the National Council Boris Kollár broke out, Gröhling had his thesis removed from the Internet. Gröhling refused calls to resign, arguing that his thesis had to be evaluated on the basis on criteria, which were in effect at the Pan-European University at the time when the thesis was defended. He also refused to give up his academic title. In June 2021, Gröhling fired his Deputy Monika Filipová, who had previously criticized him for his conduct with connection of the plagiarized final theses. Filipová blamed the firing on retribution by Gröhling for the criticism.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grohling, Branislav 1974 births Living people People from Partizánske Freedom and Solidarity politicians Education ministers of Slovakia Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2016–2020 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2020–2023 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2023–2027 Leaders of political parties in Slovakia Slovak businesspeople