The Teachers' Union of the South Zone will promote concentrations in the basic schools of Marmelete, in Monchique, and Odeleite, in Castro Marim, this Thursday, and also in Ilha do Ancão, in Faro, on Friday, to protest the closure of schools with fewer than 21 students.
Parents and guardians are also expected to participate in these protest rallies against the closure of EB1 schools for "economic reasons".
The Union, which integrates Fenprof, underlines in a statement that "since 2002, when the program for the reorganization of the 1st Cycle network began, more than 6500 schools have been closed" across the country.
The Government announced the closing of more schools, even disrespecting the Educational Letters negotiated between the local authorities and the Ministry of Education. Some of the schools in question should not even have opened in the school year that has just ended, but they ended up being provisionally maintained, thanks to protests from parents and local authorities.
The Union considers that the closure is an administrative measure that will contribute to the impoverishment of the interior of the country, «removing children from their natural environment, breaking family ties of great importance for their emotional balance» and forcing them to «change their timetables and unnecessary travel'.
In the Algarve, within the scope of the Ministry of Education's intention to close more schools in the 1st cycle of basic education, with less than 21 students, the schools of Odeleite (Castro Marim), Ancão (Faro), Fonte Santa, Cortelha and Querença (Loulé), Marmelete (Monchique), and Salema (Vila do Bispo).
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