The President of the Government, Luís Montenegro, compared this Thursday the price of some accommodation for higher education students with five-star hotels and promised more investments and solutions so that university students do not stop studying.
Montenegro began by referring to reports about “accommodations for 600 to 700 euros per month, which are not rooms, much less apartments, they are beds in rooms, they are only two square meters, three square meters”.
“If we were to do the math on the intrinsic value of that little space, It may be higher than what you pay in a five-star hotel, when you rent a suite that has much more space.that is much more available to, in essence, give and receive visitors in a dignified manner,” he added.
Luís Montenegro spoke at the inauguration of the second phase at the Ventura Terra student residence. This facility for students of the University of Lisbon, located in Ajuda, has 280 beds and was partly financed by the PRR.
The Prime Minister considered that These values make it impossible for some young people to study because they cannot “pay such an exorbitant amount.” and that, therefore, “the public authorities must also invest for reasons of justice, for reasons of deeper equity.”
“We are committed to doing even more in the future, We are committed to having more homes. We will have many new or renovated ones in the coming years.“Particularly next year, we are also adding new projects to the plan that was already underway,” he indicated.
Luís Montenegro said that there is also “an emergency response” that “is already on the ground” and that involves “the use of youth hostels, Inatel equipment or the use of spaces that universities can contract to offer more while many of the definitive solutions the solutions are not yet guaranteed”, that is, while “the works are not yet ready”.
“We will continue investing, and we will continue investing because it is our obligation to safeguard democracy, it is our very deep obligation to materialize social justice and it is, above all, our obligation to move towards having a more economically developed country. and leave those who will come behind us the foundations to be able to continue walking successfully and with guarantees of sustainability,” he stated.
For the head of Government, the investment made now in education, in accommodation, in science, guarantees that the country will have “prosperity in the future.”
“We are investing in democracy, we are investing in social justice and we are investing in economic development”Montenegro highlighted.
At the same event, the mayor of Lisbon recalled his career as a displaced student and said that he studied in the capital at a time when “there was only one residence,” stating that “he paid six contos,” which is equivalent to 30 euros.
“It was the hardest 30 euros my family had to pay,” he said.
Carlos Moedas considered that “there is no greater injustice” than a person who wants to study in Lisbon and cannot because of the accommodation.
“It hurts a lot and it can’t happen. And we have to fight to prevent this from happening,” he highlighted, indicating that there are currently 50 thousand displaced students in the capital.
Indicating that since the beginning of his mandate, 3,500 places have been authorized for higher education students, the mayor stated that more can be done.
Also in a speech, student André Freitas warned that “there are young people who see their dreams aside because they were not born with a silver spoon.”
Source: Observadora
