Escolas Solidárias begins another school year

More than 40,000 students and teach-ers invested nearly 3,000 volunteer hours in solidarity initiatives aimed at resolving or reducing problems that were identified in their communities. This was what the 2016/17 school year looked like for the programme escolas Solidárias Fundação edp, in which 433 schools across the country – 25% more than the previous year – participated, including, for the first time, the Azores and madeira. 

With the start of a new school year, the programme is now in its 8th edi-tion. established in 2010, escolas Solidárias was designed around the un's Sustainable development goals and encourages educational institutions to participate in global change through lo-cal actions. Thousands of students and teachers serve as the public face of a national movement of active citizen-ship, which is officially supported by the Secretary of State for education and the directorate-general of education.

As the minister of education Tiago Brandão Rodrigues stated at escolas Solidárias' national conference last June, "learning how to be a citizen is imperative in build-ing a framework of values for the young-est citizens. Schools are crucial in the development and cultivation of citizen-ship."