With sheer delight on the faces of staff, pupils and parents filing into Aljezur International School this morning, the truth is that the Ministry of Education technically has 10 days in which it can lodge an appeal against the decision by Loulé’s Fiscal and Administrative Court to temporarily suspend the ‘permanent closure’ on grounds that very few can understand.
Lawyer José Carlos Silva has told The Resident that the court ruling is just the beginning. There will now be various judicial to-ings and fro-ings before it is decided whether to permanently allow the school’s reopening, or otherwise.
The school meantime has got its own legal case going, seeking to get to the bottom of why (and on what grounds) an original licence to operate was removed at some point in the last 10 years.
But in the meantime, the interests of the pupils in continuing the education that their parents have chosen (an education that is not given in the Portuguese language) have been secured – and the atmosphere is ‘electric’. Parents who powered the injunction granted by Loulé’s judge Diogo Pereira Santos have posted over social networks that “today, history was made!”
The school, the mission of which is “to develop clever, confident young adults who will rise to the challenges of global citizenship”, has posted: “We are over the moon to announce that our recent unexpected closure by the Ministry of Education has been suspended by a judge and we go back to school (…). Words cannot express the gratitude we feel for all our parents who have worked so hard for this and to our whole school family who have shown endless support and patience for the last three weeks. Thank you and we are looking forward to getting back to normal.”
Normal perhaps only from tomorrow. Today, as the clip below shows, lessons will only run until lunchtime, and then there is to be a party!
Happy days.
