The Minister of Education, Science, and Innovation, Fernando Alexandre, made the announcement to journalists, where he participated in the signing of collaboration agreements for the opening and operation of preschool classrooms with the municipalities of Albufeira, Lagoa, Lagos, Portimão, Faro, and Tavira. Loulé will later join the agreement, he noted.

Fernando Alexandre considered the agreement to be "good news for preschool" in the Algarve, which will have 18 new classrooms for approximately 400 children "to have a place in preschool."

"And this is the result of a highly coordinated effort between the Government and the municipalities, who come together. And this is how it has to work, this is how we will solve our country's problem, to solve a problem that, in this region, besides the lack of teachers, is also very serious: preschool coverage," the minister emphasized.

The Minister of Education in the government led by Luís Montenegro acknowledged, however, that "additional work" is still needed to meet the "major challenge" facing the public preschool network in the Faro district.

"What we are working with local authorities to do is, for now, find temporary solutions, but which can later lead to a structural resolution to this problem of our inability to respond to requests for preschool enrolment," he stated.

With the opening of these 18 preschool classrooms, the Algarve will have a "significant portion" of its preschool needs "met," the official also said, admitting, however, that "there are still some students left out," but without specifying how many.

Fernando Alexandre expressed the Ministry of Education's willingness to "increase the number of classes" registered today, but emphasized the importance of considering that the priority is to place children who still haven't received a response.