City Council, guardians, parents' association, directors of the Grouping of Schools, are all against the way in which classes were created in schools in Monchique, which, in compliance with the new norms of the Ministry of Education, have "absurd" dimensions and they mix students of several years.
The Association of Parents and Guardians of the Municipality Grouping of Schools even states that «children and young people who attend the various levels of education cannot be treated as if they were pieces of fruit that we have to distribute in various crates, respecting the sacred law that establishes that each box must contain twenty copies».
The situation, which is repeated in other Algarve counties and all over the country, is so serious that yesterday it motivated an emergency meeting between the president of the Chamber, himself a teacher by profession, representatives of those responsible for education, his representative association and the direction of the Group.
Following the meeting, Mayor Rui André sent the Minister of Education a letter requesting a request for an "urgent hearing", and in which he stated that the start of the school year presents "incorrect groups of normality, either from a pedagogical point of view or also of acceptable standards of common sense and correct functioning of educational action».
The mayor of Monchique, elected by the PSD, adds, in his letter to Minister Nuno Crato, that the situation is even more aggravated by the «reduction of a teacher from the First Cycle».
Rui André adds that according to information from the director of the Schools Grouping, a request has already been sent to the General Directorate of School Establishments to «proceed with the changes in order to reorganize the classes more correctly and pedagogically».
Parents Threaten to Close Schools and Proceed with Precautionary Measures
In statements to the Sul Informação, the mayor said he hoped "as a father and as a mayor, that, during today or tomorrow, a positive response from the Ministry will come", authorizing "the reformulation of the classes".
Because, he says, the situation is «easy to resolve», since «the proposed changes consist in the reorganization and distribution of students by existing classes, without affecting more human and material resources, in time for us to start the school year with the normality possible and required by this educating community».
And if that doesn't happen? Rui André admits that there are parents who "threaten to close the schools", and there is even a group of parents who decided to proceed with a precautionary measure, since it is a class that "comprises three years of teaching and three students with educational needs which is illegal'.
In his letter to Minister Nuno Crato, the mayor of Monchique draws attention to the need to re-place one more teacher, since, although «taking into account the need to reduce expenditure» to which the Ministry is obliged, there is It should be borne in mind that Monchique is "a low-density territory", which "in no case should be harmed and marginalized". But by Sul Informação, Rui André did not express much hope that this claim will be met.
Shuffled classes with an absurd number of students
The Parents Association gives examples of the poor constitution of classes, revealing the existence of "classes at the same level of education with such disparate numbers" as are the cases of the 7th and 9th grades, in which, with three classes, two have 20 students, while the other has only 8 students.
The representative structure of parents also criticizes the way in which students with special educational needs (SEN) were distributed. «When you see that, in a class, in addition to comprising 20 students, it includes two children with SEN, and another class, of the same level of education, is made up of only 8 children and does not include any student with SEN, it is a case to ask : where is the rationality of a decision like this one?
But the mayor Rui André gives examples of other absurd situations, as is the case of Escola de S. Pedro, «where there are four teachers, four classes, four years of schooling, but where the students are all mixed up in all classes . It's an absurd!".
Therefore, the parents defend that “the Pedagogical Council and the Direction of the Monchique School Grouping be given competences, in order to define the fair distribution of students deserving special attention and treatment within them”.
The Association concludes: «we will never remain silent and quiet and that «we will do everything to safeguard the interests of students and teachers». And even the social-democratic mayor of Monchique warns: "if by Monday we don't receive a positive response from the Ministry, other measures will be taken."
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