Minister of Education Strengthens Citizenship in Schools

The Minister of Education, Science and Innovation, Fernando Alexandre, said this Friday, the 31st, that classes on financial literacy helped to consolidate the subject of Citizenship and Development.

Fernando Alexandre recalled that training in the area of ​​financial literacy is mandatory – in the subject of Citizenship and Development – which, he stated, “was an unstructured subject in many schools” in the country.

The Minister of Education was present today at Escola Secundária José Gomes Ferreira, in Lisbon, where he received the Minister of Finance.

Joaquim Miranda Sarmento gave a two-hour class to around 150 students, in the 11th year of schooling, as part of Savings Day, refusing to answer journalists’ questions.

The Minister of Finance was invited to teach at the school where he studied “more than 30 years ago”.

Today, initiatives on financial literacy are taking place in schools across the country with the participation of members of the Government, academics and heads of institutions.

“When we created this initiative to bring financial literacy to the entire national territory, we had an almost natural mobilization from the Governor of the Bank of Portugal who goes to Coimbra to give [hoje] a class at the school where he studied or from the Vice Governor of the Bank of Portugal who goes to Funchal”, explained the Minister of Education.

On the other hand, the Minister of Education was satisfied with the receptivity of students and teachers, highlighting that there are 600 initiatives in schools across the country and more than 900 people are involved, including 200 university and polytechnic teachers.

The Governor of the Bank of Portugal, Álvaro Santos Pereira, will give a class on Financial Literacy, focused on the topic of Savings, to 130 students in the 11th and 12th years of schooling, at Escola Secundária Avelar Brotero, Coimbra, as part of the initiative “Educating for Citizenship: Saving, a Commitment to the Future”.