Portugal has learned nothing and closes more schools

The Portuguese government under Prime Minister José Sócrates has decided to close a further 701 primary and secondary schools. As a result roughly 10,000 pupils will have to travel to more distant schools. The business paper Diário Económico finds this unacceptable: "The Portuguese have known since yesterday that they have the lowest birth rate in Europe [sic]. This situation has become increasingly exacerbated in the last decade ... while the government has done little if nothing to counter it in the last five years. And even if it denies the charge, the key reason in both cases has been economic factors: saving, saving and more saving. With our birth rate and education policy, Portugal runs the risk of ending up with no more than a single school in future. It would be huge, very easy on the state budget and presumably in Lisbon. It could be called The Grand School of Engineer José Sócrates."

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