The Liberal Initiative wants textbooks and student transportation to be free in all private and professional education, as is already the case in public schools. After visiting a public school and a private school in Coimbra, Carla Castro said that “what should differentiate” the measures “is not the ownership of the school or whether it is public or private.”
In the eyes of liberals, there is “a lot of discrimination” in the Portuguese educational system and it is necessary “change the paradigm”. “Vocational education is not covered by free textbooks, there is discrimination when free textbooks are only for public schools,” said the deputy, referring to the fact that this measure does not include students from state-funded vocational schools.
Students in state-funded vocational schools without access to free textbooks
Along the same lines, part of the professional training is also excluded from free transport, taking into account that the criteria defined by the Government include students in compulsory education, those in higher education up to 23 or 24 years of age, depending on the courses , already a list of professional schools, but not all, according to the Renaissance.
Questioned by journalists, the liberal official in charge of education reiterated that “in the free manuals, such as the one on transportation, what should be differentiating is not school propertyIt’s not whether it’s public or private.” Despite not specifying any measure to be presented in the short term —and with Carla Castro only highlighting that IL has “presented and will continue to present many proposals in education”—, the deputy stressed that “clearly” the issue of school textbooks Free private and vocational education should be among the party’s priorities when it comes to education.
“The school right now it is not serving well, neither the children, nor the teachers and we have to change the paradigm”, the liberal insisted, noting that in the first school visited by the deputies, the Escola Secundária D. Dinis, there was “no intervention in the infrastructures for 40 years” . . “The dedication that teachers, teachers and directors make in a school is absolutely significant,” he defended.
“We have been fighting a lot for the fight in decentralization Y autonomy of schools, this is true for teacher recruitment and for curricular flexibility. The importance of school transport, of valuing professional training… The most developed countries have very strong professional trajectories and here there are little dignity Y few resources for this way of teaching”, accused Carla Castro.
In 2020, IL had already put forward a proposal for free textbooks to also reach private and cooperative education, with the rationale that all students should be treated equally regardless of the type of educational establishment they attend.
Source: Observadora
