The Regional Secretary for Education and Training defended this afternoon the approval of the new Student Statute, drafted by this department, adding that this is an innovative document at various levels.

Cláudia Cardoso explained that with this statute we intend to "remove from the current statute the matters we believe that should be subject to different legislation, such as matters regarding Student Welfare, which will be soon regulated by a Regional Legislative Decree, matters concerning school exclusion already comprised by the legislation on School Health that has already been submitted to the Regional Assembly as well as other matters of regulatory nature. In this context, the Government considers that they should be included in the Rules on the Administrative Management of Students."

For the Regional Secretary for Education and Training, the new Student Status will "improve safety, tranquillity and discipline in our schools, as key promoters of educational success and the effectiveness of learning."

This legislation also promotes the "strengthening of the authority of the educational community as well as of the teaching and non-teaching staff and in addition to reinforcing the importance of the intervention of school multidisciplinary teams, the powers of the President of the School Board and the School Board itself, being body responsible for school management," stated the Regional Secretary.

During the presentation of the Student Statute at the Regional Parliament, Cláudia Cardoso also stressed that it "ensures the reinforcement of the role of schools and the necessary correlation with the strengthening of the role of families, concerning their involvement and commitment to the school and the success of students" since "parents and tutors play a fundamental role in the manner how students perceive the school and their commitment and dedication to school in a learning context.”

On the other hand, "this statute clarifies the scheme concerning the implementation of preventive and integration measures” as well as the "disciplinary and sanctionatory measures,” said the Regional Secretary.

Cláudia Cardoso specified that the new Student Statute "speeds up and simplifies formal procedures regarding the implementation of these measures, granting the President of the School Board with the power to speed up procedures, enhancing the effectiveness of the project, reducing deadlines and procedures with the purpose of decreasing the time between the determination of the need to implement measures and their enforcement."

In addition to reducing deadlines in the implementation of measures, the Regional Secretary for Education and Training also emphasised the possibility of reporting incidents at the school, which can be made by any member of the educational community.

The legislation has already been approved in general, being currently under debate on the details.