The Secretary of State for Integration said on Tuesday that almost four thousand special education grants had been paid through March 15, up 53% from the same month last year.
The balance was made by Ana Sofía Antunes before the Parliamentary Committees on Education and Science and on Labour, Social Security and Integration in joint hearings with Education Minister João Costa on the request of the PSD and the Liberal Initiative for Inclusion. education.
“This is a data that I am obliged to emphasize,” the Secretary of State said, justifying this by saying that “it does not become true because we constantly repeat lies.”
Replying to SDP MP Carla Madureira, who stated that social benefits are “another measure in which the government is completely failing”, citing payment delays, Ana Sofía Antunes denied the allegations, stressing that “the talk of cutting the special education subsidy is false , and the numbers show that they are false.”
According to the balance sheet updated by the Secretary of State, 3,829 special education grants had already been paid out by March 15, representing an increase of approximately 53% over the number of requests paid at the end of March of the previous year (2,498).
The minister also compared the number of different requests at the end of March last year (8,522) with the balance on March 15, when 11,430 were postponed, highlighting that in terms of budget execution there was also an increase of 59%, from 2.317 million euros to March 2022 year to 3.675 million euros until last week.
On the other hand, compared to 2015/2016, the number of special education grant recipients almost doubled last academic year, from 23.7 million euros to 41 million euros last year.
Ana Sofia Antunes also assessed the disability award, noting that the number of children and young people receiving additional support has grown by about 33.4% since 2014.
“Here it was said that the word ‘inclusion’ has been very present in the government’s speech since 2015. This is a fact, I confirm. It is very present in speech, in strategic options and in practice,” he defended.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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