Bishop of Aveiro highlights role of private schools in Portugal

António Moiteiro, the Bishop of Aveiro and a member of the Portuguese Episcopal Commission for Christian Education and Doctrine, has called for greater recognition of the role private and Catholic schools play in the national education system. Speaking at a symposium on education in Portugal, Moiteiro argued that the state school system currently lacks the capacity to meet total demand, noting that many students are left without classes due to teacher shortages.

Moiteiro compared the educational landscape to the National Health Service, suggesting that just as the health system relies on private entities to meet needs, the education system requires the complementarity of private, cooperative, and Catholic schools. He emphasized that this complementarity should be viewed as a right of parents rather than a right of the State. He further noted that if Catholic and private schools were to close, the public system would be unable to accommodate the thousands of students they currently serve.