Portugal’s Minister of Education stated that 12,000 children are still waiting for admission to pre-school. He informed this during the proposal for the State Budget for the year 2025.

12,000 Children Waiting For Pre-school

Fernando Alexandre, the Minister of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI) informed parliament about the high number of children missing pre-school. These statistics were shared during the discussion of the State Budget proposal for 2025. He stated:

We are talking about 12 thousand children who are waiting for a place in pre-school.

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A lot of families are facing some difficulty in finding a place in pre-school for their children. Many children attended the daycare center for no cost. This was possible due to the Government’s program ‘Happy Daycare’. The government had already announced in June that they are working on a plan for creating a solution to this problem. During June, around 20,000 places were missing in pre-schools which made the government decide to administer children in daycare centers. That is why a lot of children were enrolled in daycare centers during the month of September. Fernando stated:

The problem is that the vacancies that were in the ‘Creche Feliz’ at the time of transfer to the pre-school were not taken into account. [However], 80 missing rooms in the preschool have already been identified.

€706 Million Budget For Early Education

The proposal for OE2025 contains a budget of 706 million Euros for early childhood education. It is expected to increase to 170 more classrooms in the public sector to improve the seating capacity. It is vital to accommodate children for early childhood education. Fernando Alexandre informed the parliament during the hearing that the responsibility for the educational sector is now increasing more than ever. He stated:

[Central admission is] an increased responsibility because it is the Government that is responsible for guaranteeing equal opportunities for all.

Fernando believes that the Central Administration along with the local authorities has to be responsible for early childhood education. The proposal for the budget in the early educational sector is considered to be 7.47 billion Euros. This is 6.8% more than that which was allotted last year. The Minister stated:

We are talking about an education that is absolutely essential to guarantee equal opportunities. Students who are excluded from this education will have a worse academic path than those who had access and, therefore, we must, once again, as we have done with students without classes, use the instruments and measures to ensure that access to pre-school is guaranteed.

Lack Of Places For Children

The Education, Science and Innovation Minister, Fernando agreed that more than 1000 children lack a place in Algarve pre-school. He noticed this when he came to visit the Algarve on 22 October. The Ministry of Education promises to add more financial resources to the schools after it receives the budget.

Ministry of Education has aimed to improve both public and private sectors in the country. One of their aims is to make new contracts with the private sector to further improve the system of education in the country. Fernando informs that the education ministry agreed to make 170 rooms in the public sector before, but the Government did not take any decisive action on it. Now, the Government is willing to come up with an agreement with the private schools as well. It aims to increase the role of the private sector in education.

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