The Assembly of the Republic rejected three bills this Friday, from the PSD, Chega and Iniciativa Liberal, which proposed extending free textbooks to students in private and cooperative sector educational institutions.
The diplomas only had the support of the three proposing parties and the abstention of the PAN, which received votes against from the PS, Bloco de Esquerda, PCP and Livre.
The issue had already divided parliament on Wednesday when the initiatives were discussed, with PSD, Chega and Iniciativa Liberal claiming that the gratuity currently only applicable to public schools is discriminatory.
The parties also believed that the exclusion of students from colleges endangered families’ freedom of choice and PSD deputy Sónia Ramos even defended that this choice should not only be respected, but also supported by the state.
On the left, PS, Bloco de Esquerda and Livre replied that the state has a responsibility to ensure free and universal compulsory education and that it does this through the public sector, while the PCP accused the proponents of hypocrisy for not getting the books for free possibly of support forms, proposed by the party, but complained about manuals for the private sector.
The PAN was the only one to approach the bills, with Inês de Sousa Real highlighting at the time that there are needy families who opt for private education but do not have free textbooks and whereas, on the other hand, the measure can make an “important environmental character”.
Source: DN
