The Minister of Education admitted this Tuesday, March 17, to rethink the coexistence of classes with association contracts and private offerings in the same school, considering that the coexistence of the two regimes, as occurs in the Salesians, “clarifies” inequalities.
“Perhaps, what needs to be considered is whether it makes sense for a school to have both regimes (private offer and association contracts). I would say that this could be the issue,” said Fernando Alexandre.
The hypothesis of rethinking association contracts was launched by the Minister of Education, Science and Innovation when asked about the case, reported by Lusa on Friday, of a school where public and private students have different access to canteen meals.
At the school in question – Salesianos de Manique, in Cascais – there are 770 private students, who pay monthly fees, and 797 who attend school for free because the Ministry of Education finances these classes, due to a lack of public school provision.
Despite attending the same school, students with association contracts do not have access to the same meals as their private counterparts.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the conference “Reprogramming Work – A conference on people, skills and Artificial Intelligence”, the Minister of Education highlighted that, within the scope of association contracts, Private schools must “be aligned with public school rules”.
One of these rules concerns limiting the cost of meals, currently at 1.46 euros per lunch, and which the minister defends to “protect families, because public schools have to guarantee that all children can have access to a meal when they are at school”.
On the other hand, within the scope of private provision, schools have the autonomy to provide meals at a higher cost, as is the case at Salesianos de Manique.
“What’s the problem? It’s just that the coexistence within the same building of these two regimes highlights something that we know exists”, he added, noting that in these cases, socioeconomic differences become more evident.
According to Lusa news, for several years, students with association contracts with the Salesians of Manique could choose between the various options available in the canteen, paying the difference between the amount paid by the State and the amount requested from private students.
Two years ago, families paid around six euros per day so that their children could choose from the private students’ menu, but there was a maximum limit that could be charged to students with an association contract (currently it is 1.46 euros per lunch) and, therefore, the school was penalized by the guardianship and forced to return these funds to the families.
Asked whether the impossibility of families paying an extra amount to have access to meals available in private provision does not accentuate this inequality, Fernando Alexandre said that “the resolution of the problem, despite everything, is not obvious”.
On the other hand, and highlighting that “it is a new case” and unknown until now, the minister admitted that the scenario could be repeated in other schools with a private offer and financed by the State, but insisted on the need to impose limits on the price charged in the canteens to students in the public regime.
Even so, the minister argues that the association contract regime works and should not be changed in the wake of a specific case, but recognizes the need to assess whether this modality should coexistin the same educational establishment, with private provision.
On Monday, the management of the Salesianos de Manique school was available to change the current meal regime, if the Ministry of Education allows it.
Leave a Reply