Africa-Press – Cape verde. The school dropout rate by Cape Verdean students at the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Portugal, has increased, as reported by the president of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB), in Portugal, Orlando Rodrigues. Economic difficulties may be at the root.
Despite this increase, the IPB president assured Inforpress that Cape Verdean students are “well integrated”, both in the community and in the educational institution.
However, according to Orlando Rodrigues, there are always “some problems and difficulties” that arise, but that in terms of academic success there are no significant differences compared to Portuguese students, that is, “the academic success rates are similar”.
But, for the IPB president, one of the justifications that the Institute can point to for the increase in Cape Verdean students dropping out of school has more to do with “economic difficulties”, with there being “more difficulties in paying for studies” and that, for this reason, “they end up giving up”. A situation, he guarantees, that worries everyone.
Majority of Cape Verdeans in Bragança study with their own means
According to this official, Cape Verdeans pay the international student fee, but informs that the IPB, together with the municipalities of Cape Verde, has awarded a scholarship with the difference in tuition fees for national students, that is, Cape Verdean students that come through agreements with city councils, end up paying the same as the Portuguese.
“Some come with a grant from the chambers, others arrive through Portuguese cooperation, but it is a very small number, but most come with their own means, and in some difficult circumstances, we always have some kind of support that we give, because we don’t let our students get into serious difficulties, so sometimes we mobilize specific support”, he guaranteed.
Regarding courses, Orlando Rodrigues explained that Cape Verdeans choose “a little bit of everything”, but that “unfortunately”, for the Cape Verdean nation, they tend to opt less for courses in Agricultural Sciences, ending up opting a lot for the areas Education, Sports, Engineering, Management and Health, such as Biomedical Sciences and Nursing.
“Excellent Professionals”
On the other hand, the IPB president assured that Cape Verdeans “are excellent professionals”, giving an example of what happened during the pandemic, in which many students helped with the Covid-19 tests and later ended up finding work.
The Cape Verdean student community in Bragança has more than a thousand students from all over the islands, mostly from Santiago, Sal and São Vicente.
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