The Regional Secretary for Education and Culture assured today that the safety of students and the school staff is a "priority" for the Government of the Azores.

Avelino Meneses was heard by the Parliamentary Committee on General Policy of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of the Azores in the context of a Resolution Project on "Safety and Protection of School Buildings and People." The government official defended that the possible implementation of this initiative "will not be an overnight solution."

The Regional Secretary stressed that Azorean schools, despite the lack of adaptation to the legal scheme on fire safety, in some cases, "have shown their concern towards civil protection measures," which is evidenced by the fact that "all school establishments have their own evacuation plan; a third of these plans have been approved by the Azores Regional Civil Protection and Fire Service."

"Either with the help of external entities or without it, most schools conduct emergency drills (fires and natural catastrophes) on a regular basis," said Avelino Meneses. The government official stressed that "virtually every school distributes materials containing information on preventive measures and that many schools have a Civil Protection Club."

According to the Regional Secretary, other schools "develop training initiatives in cooperation with the fire departments and the Public Safety Police and, depending on the level of education, civil protection is a topic addressed in subjects such as Environmental Studies and Citizenship."

"We are aware that the enhancement of safety at schools arises from a widespread awareness of the important role played by civil protection, which is based on the idea that prevention is the best way to avoid accidents," stressed the government official.

Avelino Meneses recalled that, in this context, the Government of the Azores has carried out several actions to monitor air quality in the three main schools of São Miguel with asbestos cement roofs - Arrifes, Canto da Maia and Capelas.

These monitoring actions showed that, even in some rooms at Capelas School where the overall number of fibres in suspension was high, the quantity of asbestos fibres "was far below any level of hazard."