Joy, the desire to play, learn and teach is what the students and teaching and non-teaching staff show as they begin to write the history of Escola EB1/JI Hortas de Santo António 2, the new educational establishment in Loulé.
«The opening of a school is always a moment of enormous happiness. A school with these conditions, in addition to responding to the needs of a growing population, shows that we are doing what we are responsible for, which is providing for material needs, so that teaching can take place in the best possible conditions».
The words are from Vítor Aleixo, mayor of Loulé, who this Tuesday, November 14th, officially inaugurated this new school in the municipality (which has already been receiving students since September), together with the Minister of Education João Costa.
The new school has four primary school classrooms, three kindergarten classrooms and capacity for 170 students.
Carlos Fernandes, director of the Eng. Duarte Pacheco School Group, to which this new educational establishment belongs, also emphasizes that this is a school that «the city and the group lacked».
Here, students now learn who, until its inauguration, either didn't have a place or were placed on the outskirts, «where their parents had to take them», he explains to the Sul Informação Carlos Fernandes.
With full teaching and non-teaching staff, Fernanda Gonçalves, director of Escola EB1/JI Hortas de Santo António 2 and 1st year teacher, reinforces that, at this moment, the school has the capacity to receive more students this academic year.
«There are classes that are not yet complete and, therefore, can receive children from the city, the country and also from other countries», said the teacher.
This is because in this school – as in all others in the municipality and the region – students of various nationalities study, something that the Minister of Education also reinforced.
«This is the first time in many years that we have seen an increase in the number of students in Portugal – and in areas with more immigration, such as the Algarve and the municipality of Loulé, this is felt more clearly. It means that we need more physical capacity and that we also have very big pedagogical challenges, because many students come to us who don't speak Portuguese, who come from different cultures, which forces the school to transform and reinvent itself many times", he stressed. João Costa.
Although the new EB1/JI Hortas de Santo António 2 School “responds to a need” in the municipality, Vítor Aleixo does not fail to admit that more educational establishments are needed in the city of Loulé and, above all, in the parishes of Quarteira and Almancil, where the situation is even “more critical”.
At this inauguration, the difficulties that displaced teachers experience in finding a home in the Algarve were also not left aside. The Mayor of Loulé stated that he wants to "approve a regulation" according to which "facilitating conditions" will be created so that "teachers, doctors, nurses and law enforcement agents" can "find decent housing and have this problem resolved." .
In addition to the new EB1/JI Hortas de Santo António 2 School, the municipality is currently working on the expansion of EB2,3 Eng. Duarte Pacheco, which will allow the creation of seven new classrooms and the requalification of two existing ones, as well as the creation of new spaces – a teaching kitchen/CEF training with dining room, and a new space to welcome parents and guardians.
Photos: Mariana Sedge | Sul Informação
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