Africa-Press – Cape verde. The schools of Ribeira Seca, Renque Purga and Achada Fazenda were given names today, considering this act as recognition of the legacy and work carried out by their respective patrons.
The Ribeira Seca School was named after António Correia Afonso, the Renque Purga School is now called the Manuel da Graça Freire School and the Achada Fazenda School, which is the headquarters of Group 1, is now called the João Monteiro School.
The plaques were unveiled by several local entities, members of the Government, family members, the educational community and friends.
Speaking to the press, the national director of Education, Adriano Moreno, considered this to be “an important moment” for the Ministry of Education, as it is undertaking a profound reform of the education system, which involves not only the reformulation of the curricula, but also the process of infrastructure in schools.
Since 2016, he highlighted, the Government has invested around two million contos in the infrastructure of schools, to have better spaces, but they are also in the process of humanizing schools, which involves naming schools after people who were “important” to the education system and who it is now time for the ministry to recognize.
Moreno stressed that the aim is to connect with the community, with people, teachers or not, who at some point were important in the life of these schools and thus pay this simple tribute.
Likewise, the Mayor of Santa Cruz, Carlos Silva, praised this act, considering it noble and said that the Santa Cruz local authority has always advocated a day for each school, in order to allow the city council to better support and be closer to each of the schools.
As he explained, on Christmas Day or Children’s Day, it is necessary to support everyone at once and it is often not possible to reach all schools or educational structures for visits on these days. Therefore, dedicating a day to each school, where it would be possible to promote reflection and education, “would be a viable measure”, aware that this is not the responsibility of the Local Government.
As for the honorees, he highlighted that they are figures who in the past made a great contribution and today the municipality is reaping the fruits of the sowing that these figures did in their time, which was very difficult.
On behalf of the family, Heitor Freire, grandson of Professor Manuel da Graça Freire, maintained that naming the school after him is an act of “tremendous honor and pride”.
“Seeing my grandfather being recognised for what he did for Education, not only in the town where he was born, in Achada Ponta, but in the entire southern area of Santa Cruz, where he left an enormous legacy, from the 1940s to the 1960s, when he was educating people and promoting better and greater education in the municipality, fills us with satisfaction”, he highlighted, stressing that it is even more a source of pride to hear many people saying that they are what they are today thanks to this honouree.
In the same vein, José Eduardo, son of António Correia Afonso, expressed his satisfaction with this recognition, as he said he had witnessed all of his father’s dedication to better education in the municipality and this act of recognition by the Ministry of Education and the Santa Cruz School Delegation is a reason for satisfaction.
He recalled that his father “had a very special and unique dedication” to teaching, having dedicated a lot of time to helping children and people achieve their goals.
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