“This clarification is necessary because we know that the best educational projects are those in which there is good coordination between city governments and schools,” stressed Fernando Alexandre, who defended the need for municipalities to do “what needs to be done to improve the education system.

The Minister of Education, Science and Innovation was speaking to journalists at the end of the session in which collaboration agreements were signed with 13 of the 21 municipalities that will receive a total of 6,008,487.76 euros to carry out urgent works in 28 schools.

The needs were identified by the General Directorate of School Establishments (DGEstE) and the interventions range from insulation of external walls and painting and removal of asbestos to replacing frames or floors and installing elevators.

The works should begin soon and the minister expects them to be completed between this year and next.

In addition to these 28 schools, with needs identified as urgent, the DGEstE identified 600 schools in need of works, an increase in relation to the 451 identified in 2023, when the government then led by António Costa signed an agreement with the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities.

According to Minister Fernando Alexandre, around 100 schools are already being served, but the governor recognises that it will be difficult to complete the work in the approximately 600 schools by the end of the decade.

“We cannot allow what happened in recent decades to happen again when there was no investment for decades and this led to a very significant degradation of the school network”, he warned.