Since the beginning of the creation of the measure, in 2007, already 16 thousand university students have requested loans from the bank to be able to study.
In all, as revealed in its edition of Jornal de Negócios yesterday, Portuguese students have already borrowed 200 million euros to get the desired straw, using this credit system with mutual guarantee for Higher Education students, which has the Status as “guarantor”.
In the first month of applications for this academic year 2011/2012 alone, a further 725 loans were granted, worth nine million euros.
But the default, also according to Jornal de Negócios, that is, what students are unable to pay from these loans, has already reached 1,4 million euros.
For me, the creation of this system of loans to university students and the values it achieves demonstrate to exhaustion the way in which education is viewed in Portugal, which has even been declared a passion. But that, like all passions, quickly died out.
The numbers revealed yesterday show that in Portugal there are 16 thousand university students to whom the State has not been able to study, but to whom the door has opened so that they can get into debt.
All of this would be very beautiful if we lived in a time when young people who have just graduated from Universities find jobs as soon as they finish their course.
But the reality is quite different, as unfortunately we are well aware. More and more young people leave universities with a straw in their hands and have no job opportunities.
Therefore, what the State is doing is deepening the gap between rich and poor, between those who can and those who cannot – and, not being able, they resort to credit and thus become indebted even before they even know if any day they will be able to earn money to repay this loan.
What the State does is to become a “guarantor” for the failure of these young people. But is the State, like any normal guarantor, really required to pay what the indebted youth cannot pay? I doubt.
The model of student loans was copied by the Government in 2007 from foreign models such as the United States of America. But, in addition to Portugal and the United States being very different realities, here, for our holy land, we only stayed because of the appearance, the foam of things, and the model was not taken to its ultimate consequences, which would involve guaranteeing young people who get into debt and who manage to finish their courses with good grades a 1st job opportunity.
And it's been centuries and centuries of this attitude of staying just for the foam of things, which had disastrous consequences for the country and for our economy. Our current crisis is quite a reflection of this!
The fact that 160 students, in five years, have had to get into serious debt in order to complete their university studies in Portugal only demonstrates, in my opinion, that in Portugal it is still necessary to be a son of something to succeed in the life!
The investment in Education is the key to the development of any country, as it was in countries that our governments – now and before – are so fond of mentioning, such as Finland.
But in Portugal we stick to the quote, the froth of things and there is no serious, continued, evaluated, consistent bet on Education. There are sparks of interest, passing passions, which quickly die out.
In Portugal, there are 160 indebted students and who knows how many young people who can't even study or who give up on their enrollment and their dreams.
There is a State that tells them: I am sorry, but there is no job. Emigrate!
Because Portugal is the country of appearances, of the foam of things. Even in what is decisive for the future, we are still just that.
Note: From next Thursday, March 15th, I will begin to make a weekly chronicle on the Rádio Universitária do Algarve, RUA FM, under the rubric «Tenho Dito», which each day gives voice to the opinion of a guest. My chronicle is broadcast every Thursday, shortly after 9:00 am.
Therefore, I will also resume the weekly habit of writing a chronicle, which will also be published here.
Comments