In the wake of 6500 that have already bitten the dust, 439 more primary schools face closure at the end of this school year.
The only good piece of news is the fact that the Ministry of Education has agreed it won’t close schools without previous negotiations with the relevant borough councils.
Thus it is just possible that some of the 439 will escape the axe for the next school year at least.
Carrying the news, Correio da Manhã said the schools in question were all those with less than 21 pupils.
The majority are in the centre of the country (203), with 91 in the Alentejo, 79 in the north, 59 in Lisbon and just seven in the Algarve.
The Algarve is losing less ‘small village primary schools’ than any other region, as the government’s enforced closures began in earnest in the region five years ago. There are now almost no small schools left.
