The ministry of national education (Polish: Ministerstwo Edukacji Narodowej, MEN) was a ministerial department of the government of Poland. The ministry's prerogatives included setting educational standards and youth activities. It did not oversee higher education, which fell under ministry of science and higher education. The two were created in May 2006 by splitting the Ministry of Education and Science. In January 2021 the two were merged back. The ministry, established in 1944, succeeded the pre-war ministry of religious affairs and public education.