According to the daily newspaper, the greatest demand is registered in pre-school. However, there are foreign students of all ages arriving "almost daily" at Portuguese schools.
Because of this, there are already schools increasing the number of students per class, changing timetables or even resorting to temporary classrooms to increase response, as was the case with the Ferreira de Castro group, in Sintra, where the list waiting time at preschool is 150 students. Also in the São Teotónio group, in Odemira, there was a need to use a container to accommodate pre-school children given the high number of students.
Speaking to JN, the Ministry of Education confirms the existence of "some classes with a larger number of students", but without revealing numbers, adding that the placement of temporary classrooms is "the responsibility of each municipality".
Portugal has more than 1.13 million students, not including children of pre-school age (where the limit per class is 25 children), which represents 13,000 fewer students than last year, but there are 761 more classes.
According to the Ministry of Education, 1st year classes must have a maximum of 24 students and in the remaining 1st cycle, 26 students. In the 5th and 7th years, the maximum is 28 students and, in the remaining years, 30 students.