The Aljezur International School was compulsorily closed last Friday, October 24th, in a joint operation by the General Inspectorate of Education and Science (IGEC), the General Directorate of School Establishments and the GNR.
“Without prior notice”, the pedagogical director, Sílvia Catarino, told CNN Portugal, who accused the Ministry and the GNR of putting the “best interests of children” into question.
In response to the news released by the television channel, the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI) presents another version. In a note sent to DN, MECI says that the closure comes after “reiterated refusals” by the institution to comply with administrative orders issued since 2022. The guardianship recalls that the school management, for “not complying with the legal standards necessary for operation”, has already been notified of “several closure orders”. The most recent, signed by the then Secretary of State for Education, is dated January 10, 2024. According to the DN, the reasons for the school’s non-approval will have to do with the poor condition of the building.
Following the operation, the files of 85 students from the 7th to the 12th years were collected and delivered to the Professora Piedade Matoso School Group, in Aljezur. According to MECI, students in grades 7 to 9 may be included in this group, while those in secondary education await individual assessment to determine their placement level.
The management of the International School of Aljezur, which claims to follow the Cambridge curriculum, contests the decision and claims to have been taken by surprise. “On Friday, around 11 am, five GNR soldiers entered with representatives from IGEC and DGEstE and ordered the immediate closure of the school, without prior notice”, Sílvia Catarino told CNN Portugal.
The pedagogical manager highlights that the institution, open since 2010, received a permanent operating license in 2014, “a decision that appears to have been reversed years later, without formal communication to management”.
According to Sílvia Catarino, the school argued to the authorities that the immediate closure jeopardized “the best interests of the children”, since many parents were working and could not pick up their children immediately. “We were told that they would return at the end of the day to complete the closure, which happened,” he adds.
GNR guaranteed student safety
Contacted by Diário de Notícias, an official GNR source confirms the intervention, clarifying that the military “only followed the request from the Ministry of Education”. Regarding the safety of the 85 students (from the 7th to the 12th years of schooling) it is clear: “It was never in question. We waited until all the parents arrived and school transport was secured”, highlights the same source.
The International School of Aljezur had been operating for 15 years and taught the British Cambridge curriculum, accepted by the MECI for academic equivalence purposes. The Ministry maintains that the establishment “is not approved” to integrate the Portuguese education system.
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