Plan prioritises “neediest families”
Portugal’s caretaker government has signed two new ordinances today to allow pre-school places to start opening in the next school year to accommodate 5,000 more children from the ages of 3, prioritising the neediest families, writes Lusa.
New classrooms with a minimum of 20 children – or adapted classrooms to accommodate more children – is a measure already been announced last month, before the motion of confidence that brought the government down.
At that time, a resolution was approved to spend €42.5 million so that over the next three school years agreements can be fulfilled with the private and co-operative sector and the social and solidarity sector, to open 200 new pre-school rooms and/ or retrofit existing rooms.
A diagnosis requested by the government revealed that there are more than 10,000 children without access to pre-school places, thus the 200 new classrooms will give free access to around half of these.
The most deprived families will be prioritised, and the idea is to increase supply in the most deprived municipalities, mainly in Lisbon.
“Of the 10 municipalities with the greatest lack of provision for children from vulnerable socio-economic backgrounds, nine are part of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. These include Sintra, Seixal, Amadora, Odivelas, Lisbon and Barreiro,” said a statement released by the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI) today.
Today’s ordinances provide direct state support of €208.05 per child per month and an incentive of €15,000 for each new classroom opened.
This incentive will only be available in the year the new classroom is opened, adds Lusa.
The Directorate-General for School Administration and the Social Security Institute will manage the entire process of applying for vacancies and opening new classrooms, including analysing and selecting entities.
Source: LUSA
