The municipal council promoted the construction of the new Mértola School Centre in the district of Beja, with community support, making it a decisive investment.

According to the elected PT member, the new space meets an "integrated teaching model."

"That is, from preschool to the 12th grade, all students in Mértola are integrated into a physical space, with access to the same type of facilities," he stressed, adding: "That is integrated teaching."

The mayor of Mértola also recalled that the municipality has been making, "for some years, a very significant investment in educational centres in five locations throughout the municipality" where there is preschool and primary education.

"The only thing missing [investment] was in Mértola, where both preschool and the first cycle were in very old buildings, no longer meeting current requirements, which has now been addressed with this investment," he explained.

With the capacity to serve more than 150 children from preschool and the first cycle of elementary school, the new Mértola School Centre has eight activity rooms, a kitchen, multi-activity rooms, a library and a laboratory, as well as outdoor play spaces.

According to city hall, in a statement, the new school centre's location, which will be inaugurated at 7 pm on 14 September, allows for "an integrated educational path from preschool to high school and vocational education" for the municipality's students.

"This proximity will contribute to improving the educational experience, through adequate and modern facilities, as well as greater efficiency in the management of human and logistical resources," the municipality added.

Credits: Pexels; Author: Nils Rotura ;

In ​​education, the Mértola City Council completed, in August, the expansion project of the São Miguel do Pinheiro Primary School (EB1), with an investment of €139,980.

The intervention included the construction of a new classroom, "a need identified due to the insufficiency of existing classrooms to accommodate the number of students," the city hall said.

The new infrastructure was implemented next to the multipurpose room and allows "internal communication between spaces," guaranteeing "the functionality of the building," it added.

Inside, "the room was equipped with the same conditions of comfort, functionality and quality as the other classrooms that make up the school park" of the São Miguel do Pinheiro Primary School, the statement reads.