The S?o Tomé government rejects the business of sending students to Portugal for training.
The S?o Tomé Education Minister denounced this Tuesday an alleged business of sending students for professional training in schools in Portugal that “do not have minimum conditions” and promised measures to “put an end to this situation”.
“In recent years, the image of S?o Tomé and Príncipe has deteriorated to such an extent that we have to put an end to this situation and hold accountable those who send students, especially to Portugal […]. Some even, I have no problem saying, make a profit from enrolling students in professional training. The schools do not have the minimum conditions, neither in terms of accommodation nor materials”, pointed out Isabel Abreu.
The minister of S?o Tomé and Príncipe was speaking at the end of a meeting with representatives of associations, foundations and other institutions and people who have promoted sending S?o Tomé students to Portugal.
The Minister of Education admitted that “there have been many problems with young students abroad, especially those who are going to do technical and professional training” in Portugal.
The concern was analyzed at last week's Council of Ministers, which instructed the Minister of Education to adopt measures to better monitor these processes.
“The students who go are not prepared, there are no meetings. They register and their parents also make sacrifices, they sell everything. What little they have, they buy liability waivers, buy tickets and the children go,” the minister pointed out.
Isabel Abreu stressed that “not everyone completes their training for their return, nor for their future”.
“We want to establish criteria for students’ departure from now on […]. We have already created an office at the Ministry of Education [where] all processes will go through here”, said Isabel Abreu.