The Regional Secretary for Education, Science and Culture defended on Thursday that the series of amendments the Government has proposed to the Statute on Private and Cooperative Teaching "aims to assure justice in the allocation of support to the families of basic and secondary education students" enrolled at private schools.

Luiz Fagundes Duarte assured that students attending private schools "will continue to benefit from fair public support," stressing that the allocation of public funds will be guided "by criteria based on equity and social justice, thus supporting those who have less and need the most."

Following "a comprehensive consultation process," the Regional Government "has decided not to proceed with the amendment to the structural model on private and cooperative teaching" by taking into consideration that "at the moment, the public school network cannot cover all preschool aged children, contrary to what happens in other teaching levels, where the supply exceeds demand."

Speaking at the Legislative Assembly during the discussion of the proposed amendments to the regional legislative decree on the Statute on Private and Cooperative Teaching, the Regional Secretary restated that "the XI Regional Government considers that the legislation on education is good and has proved to be well suited to the proper functioning of the regional educational system."

According to Luiz Fagundes Duarte, this situation "does not precludes that, after a thorough evaluation of its provisions and the respective implementation on the field, some changes might be carried out to improve it, provide clarification on some concepts and rules as well as to, whenever possible, revise some aspects in order to safeguard the interests of children, students and the circumstances of their educational paths. Furthermore, it is also important to confirm the responsibilities of the school community - schools, their organisational models, school boards, teachers, educators and non-teaching staff -, redefining whenever possible its relation with the Region."

Luiz Fagundes Duarte noted that the Region annually invests nearly 3.8 million Euros in private education, covering a total over 3,400 students.

The Government's proposal, approved at the Legislative Assembly on Friday, approves amendments to individual tutoring and homeschooling, particularly with regard to the possibility of extending homeschooling to the teaching levels comprised by compulsory education.

With these amendments to the regional legislation in force, the Government also intends to differentiate the children attending Free Time Occupation Centres (ATL), day nurseries and kindergartens from students attending elementary, basic and secondary school levels in terms of social support to be allocated by the Region to families.
 
The maintenance of financial support to preschool, while assuring a cost-free educational component, as well as the clarification of the relation between private and cooperative school establishments with the Region are other goals of the approved amendments.

With regard to private school teachers who transfer to public schools, this legislative amendment also provides that the calculation of the length of service will include the service rendered at private schools for career advancement purposes.