This prediction of a “26 percent reduction, overall, across all levels of education” as mentioned by Primelayer consultant, Lúcia Santos, goes along with previously shared evidence of a significant decrease of 7.6 percent in the students population of Angra do Heroísmo from 2015 to 2022.

Even if the research findings are slightly concerning, the focus, as explained by the consultant, should be on reversing this reality. A good solution for the problem would be keeping open only the schools that have a rate of at least 50 percent occupancy, and four or more classrooms, as right now there are first-cycle schools that have students from different school years sharing the same classroom. According to the research presented, five first-cycle schools have less than four classrooms

Nonetheless, different solutions may have to be conducted when talking about pre-school children as proximity is a parameter which may justify keeping a school with few kids still operating. As Lúcia added “Each situation must be assessed individually, as long as it does not compromise the educational success of students.” However, as the councillor of the municipality of Angra do Heroísmo, Fátima Amorim, explained it is considered unwise “to have a school operating with three or four children.”

Regarding the measures that should be adopted to try to solve this problem, the mayor has argued that there’s a strong connection between the reduction in the schools population and the recent birth rates. As she adds, “We want more people to live in the municipality, but we all have to, together, create conditions so that these people want to live in the municipality and so that more children are born in our municipality.” The Azores government is focused on improving the education systems and building networks so that people want to stay and build a family in the Azores.