Madeira News Blog

(5th July). Today’s main news headline : ‘Region Dwells(?) On Employment – Jardim says that he would reduce unemployment with more autonomy. It would be needed also to reduce bureaucracy, which slows down the start of the new programme of employment support’. The new government job creation programme was intended to commence last Tuesday, but delays in completing the necessary steps may hold it up now until 15th July, and even that has no guarantees. One of the key elements of the new measures is to provide finance to those wishing to start a business, where the money cannot be borrowed from the banks. Initially the programme will be able to provide 60% of the start-up money required, but will also consider assisting with the remaining 40% if absolutely necessary. President Jardim himself believe that more autonomy for Madeira would also help, as he would then be able to reduce the tax burden, control interest rates, and provide more assistance in matters of investment. Funny that, I always considered that bureaucracy created more jobs, and although cutting it might not increase unemployment, it would just leave a lot of people in central and local government with less to do.

The main picture of the day is of a hand ‘thumbs up’ – ‘There Are More People Getting Lifts – The numbers that share their cars with others is growing. The crisis obliges the reduction of costs’. The concept of ‘carpooling’ on Madeira is gradually waking up, despite some resistance, as the average occupancy per vehicle creeps up. It is more a symptom of the crisis, rather a changing environmental attitude says the Diário, who carried out a quick survey along a stretch of the via rápida to conclude that 42% of cars observed had two or more occupants. The same exercise in 2007 revealed that just 31% of cars had more than one occupant.

‘Out Of Fashion – Less marriages on Madeira. Especially through the church that takes on just a third of the marriages’. The number of catholic marriages declines year after year. Last year there were 1,153 weddings in total, 79 less than in 2007. Over 20 years the number has diminished by 40%. This trend is not just in Madeira and Portugal, and stems from a lack of commitment, and on the other side of the equation there are more and more couples living together. Of those that do wed, less are choosing church weddings, with just 37% choosing that option last year (41% in 2007). Now I think about it, it does seem true, as I reckon a few years ago I used to see at least a wedding a week in my local church, and I am now struggling to remember the last one, and this is the peak time of year.

"There is much needed to do in Arco da Calheta" : A cash-point machine, a modern health centre, leisure areas for tourists, and a supermarket are some of the things lacking for those who live there’. This is the Diário featured place of the week. "In recent times there have been no improvements here" says one resident, who believes that the place has been forgotten by the government. She adds that for tourists going there to relax, there is nowhere to sit down. Much of the usual stuff follows, an ageing population, high youth unemployment, a reducing feeling of security.

After Friday nights dreadful accident at Meia Légua (see yesterday) when a man died in a head on car crash, it turns out there were 10 injured people, not 9. Seven of them remain in hospital, but none of them in a life threatening condition.

‘School Kills Hunger – The government confirms that there are children that arrive at school hungry, through negligence or family difficulties’. Meals for youngsters (1st cycle) will continue to be free, and for many children it is the best food and maybe the only food they will see each day. The teachers are aware of the problem, the political parties have criticised the situation, and the Regional Education Department admits that for many kids school meals are the best they will eat. Free meals are also available to 30% of older children at later levels of education. The Director of Planning and Educational Resources is committed to continuing free meals for those in need, but he believes that of the malnourished children coming to school, not all are due to lack of money. "Almost always by neglect and carelessness" he said, and where those situations are identified it is referred to a body to deal with the matter.

Petrol comes down in price by 2 cêntimos a litre on Monday, and diesel drops by 1 cêntimo. The change was decided by the regional government. Remind me when are the elections again?

‘The Possible Marítimo – The Green-Reds presented themselves yesterday without surprises and with reserved prospects’. The positive news was not about strengthening of the squad, more about the redevelopment of the stadium into one of the most modern infrastructures in Portugal, in this the centenary year of the club. On the field, the objective is "to be better than our opponents", said the president with no great ambition to achieve a European placing.

The Diário website managed to revive itself in time, so thank your lucky stars as I was about to start another ‘Der true story’.

(22nd June). Today’s main news headline : ‘Women And Children Pay The Price Of The Crisis – The situations of single parent families rise as the consequences of the crisis increase for the most vulnerable’. The fact is proved by the charity of the Diocese of Funchal, Cáritas, which gives support to the needy. A spokesman says that unemployment has pushed many families into despair, resulting in the break up of parents, not helped by other problems such as drug addiction, and illness. It currently has 67 cases, or 29% of its total, that are single women with children. You might see just one or two men in a similar situation he said. It is generally women who approach the charity for help, for whatever reason, and in 2008 that was 91% of cases. What makes the matter worse is that single mothers find it even harder than anyone else to find new employment. The article does say that donations do keep coming in, as those who can try and help those without, and there are also volunteers coming forward willing to help others.

‘Poverty Leads Canon Of Sé To Attack With Passion The Legislative Assembly And Social Security’. Canon Manuel Martins has made some harsh criticism of how Madeira’s government and the S.S. are dealing with poverty. Several statements were made, firstly about the social democrats rejecting the proposal of the BE party (Left Block) to set up ‘social canteens’, somewhere where the poor can go to get food. He says the situation is so bad, that he knows mothers who give their children tea to drink, to help hide their hunger. He talks of cases of extreme poverty where people turn to the church for help, often through unemployment problems, or with drugs or alcohol, or inability to pay for housing or food for themselves and their children, of even the elderly and bedridden, but they have to wait months to meet with officials from Social Security to ask for help. Hospitals also come in for criticism for not helping pensioners with medicines, by giving them prescriptions for expensive brand medicines, rather than free or cheap generic ones.

‘Caniçal Protests About Police Post – The president of the parish council blames the government of Portugal’. He claims that the money was provided in the 1998 state budget, but was never delivered to Caniçal, the featured area of this week in the Diário. "Caniçal is not what they say, it is not just drugs" says a local lady born in Caniçal, but who has moved to Porto da Cruz for peace and quiet. The area has grown with new roads, health centre, civic centres and schools. However it is the problems with the young that worry most, and the people want more support for them, a place to spend free time, a sports facility, or swimming pool, anything to keep them away from drugs. The nearest police station is in Machico, and that is a situation that urgently needs to change.

The main picture of the front page shows a nice looking house, with a rather large hole in the roof : ‘Ten Rehomings In São Vicente – Rockfall hits two houses and a car in the Juncos’. Around 10 families moved out yesterday afternoon, deemed to be in danger from further rockfalls. Throughout the day boulders were falling causing extensive damage to property, and one person was injured when fleeing the zone. The locals are afraid to return home and blame the situation on the works of the via expresso tunnel of São Vicente – Boaventura, for destabilising the rockface. While most families have gone to stay with relatives, the council have agreed to pay the stay of one couple in a hotel, and are considering whether the nearby coast area should be closed.

‘Today Promises Ticking-Off In The Hospital’. This goes back to the story on Saturday’s blog about Henriqueta Reynolds, the director of the anaesthesia service, who was asked to resign by her boss but refused. Now there is a lawyer and trade union official involved, and at an emergency meeting planned for today in Funchal Central Hospital, it seems likely that it will be deemed that her boss exceeded his authority in asking her to resign, and offering her position to someone else, who has already accepted the position.

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Paul in Paul do Mar asked me to post this, so here it is :

Whale Conference, Madeira 2009: whales are worth much more alive than dead!

Whatever the objectives of the IWC Conference in Madeira and its difficult on Monday 22 June 2009 for a person in the street to understand what the objectives are as there is not even a press release on the IWC website on the Conference’s opening day! Whales are worth much more alive than dead.

As one organisation Greenpeace put it in their press release:

“The island has a long association with whaling; in the 1700s, whaling ships called here for supplies and to hire skilled crew for whaling voyages. Whaling contributed to the island’s economy with a catch of over 4,000 sperm whales between 1941 and 1981. In 1981, Portugal agreed that to fully protect whales and dolphins would to come into force in 1986. Madeira voluntarily stopped whaling in 1981, five years before the rest of the country

Madeira now has a fast-growing whale watching industry, which works to ensure that the business does not harm the populations on which it depends, showing once again that a whale is worth much more alive than dead. Most Madeiran whale watching vessels complete sightings sheets, which contribute to expanding scientific knowledge of cetaceans in these waters.”

So, a priority of this Conference should be to conserve and protect cetaceans everywhere on the planet.

Links:

Greenpeace Press Release on the IWC Conference IWC61

BBC Article

Overview

The school education system on Madeira falls under the remit of the Portuguese education system, although there are some important differences outside of the curriculum itself.

The school year commences late September for most students, and runs across 3 terms, with breaks at Christmas and Easter, and then for almost 3 months during the summer. There are no half term breaks in Madeira schools.

Schooling is compulsory from the age of 6 until the age of 16 for all residents, although some children may start earlier if there is a nursery school or other preschool facility available. School registration usually requires a health check and the production of documents relating to identity and health care, and although there are set registration periods, if coming to Madeira from elsewhere there shouldn’t be any problems outside of these periods as long as space is available in the school.

Portuguese children would naturally go to their local state school, but some non-Madeiran parents choose to send their children to the private English school in Funchal, but through that option there is of course a impact on the speed and thoroughness of that child’s integration into Portuguese society and culture.  Fees would be payable, and any private school would have to be registered by the Department of Education and follow national and / or international curricula. 

State schooling is state funded, with the exception of books and equipment, clothes and meals, which are expensive and many parents find difficulty in funding. There are often arrangements in
place for transportation for children living in the more remote areas of Madeira.

Together, the primary and secondary school systems take a child through a minimum of 12 years (grades), and amongst the compulsory subjects, English is due to become taught for a period covering up to 4 years for Madeira’s children.

Primary School (Escola Básica)

Education at this level is split into phases (4, 2 & 3 years), and in the first phase the child may be with the same teacher and classmates for several years, normally studying or learning in less hours than in later years. Before proceeding to the next phase, the children need to be assessed for ability to progress, which can result in some children being retained for a further year.

Due to some issues of supply and demand, some schools work a double shift system, with early morning starts and early  finishes for some, followed by an second shift for other children.

In the second phase, the children generally stay together, working longer hours and may have several teachers, each  covering a group of subjects.

In the final phase, lasting 3 years, which takes the children up to the age of 14, students can branch out into new subjects according to their preferences, and will have a variety of much more specialised teachers.

Getting from year to year involves passing assessments, and if a particular child does not pass the criteria then they stay at the same level for an extra year before moving on, meaning that theoretically the normal finishing age of 14 can be considerably extended.

When each subject module is successfully passed, the student receives a certificate of basic education, and after the final evaluation the successful students gain a diploma which allows them to enter into secondary education, if they choose to do so, or they can finish schooling at that stage.

Secondary School (Escola Secundária)

The students here exercise further choices in more specialised subject matter, in courses spanning over a further 2 or 3 years.  The assessments are continuous, with annual exams in each subject. At the end students take exams, set and managed at a national level, and if they are successful in completing the third year then they are able to proceed to further education on Madeira or elsewhere if they choose to do so.

Education & School ‘Cycles’ for Madeiran Children

1st Cycle 1st Phase
1º  year / grade age 6
2º  year / grade age 7
3º  year / grade age 8
4º  year / grade age 9

1st Cycle 2nd Phase
5º  year / grade age 10
6º  year / grade age  11

1st Cycle 3rd Phase
7º  year / grade age 12
8º  year / grade age 13
9º  year / grade age 14

2nd Cycle
10º  year / grade age 15
11º  year / grade age 16

2nd Cycle for University Entrance
12º  year / grade age 17

University
3 years

Adult Education

Madeira has its own university (UMa), where students can opt for courses to obtain diplomas and degrees, but a noticeable number leave the island to take their course on the mainland, usually Lisbon, rather than stay on Madeira where the choices are understandably more limited.

Adult education classes are available around Madeira, often through night school, with the aim of providing poorly educated adults with an opportunity to better themselves and their careers. They run for up to 3 hours a night on every weeknight, and are free for residents to attend. Some foreigners use these courses to try and learn or improve their Portuguese language skills, but it can be difficult as there is no guarantee that the teacher can speak English.

It is becoming more common to find language courses for foreigners wishing to learn to speak Portuguese, and in recent years classes have been held at Calheta, Ponta do Sol and Ribeira Brava.

Qualifications

Professional and technical qualifications obtained on Madeira should equate to EU recognised levels, and would certainly be recognised within Portuguese boundaries, but beyond that each country would have its own means of comparison. Demonstrating that difference, it would suffice to say that a degree gained at an English university would enable you to announce yourself as ‘Doctor’ on Madeira.

Standards Of Education

Madeira and Portugal are like any other country where good and not so good standards vary from school to school. By enlarge, it is usually reported in the local press that Madeira underachieves compared with the Portuguese national averages, but given the differences in the economy, maybe that is not so surprising.

Also, teacher moral is not high on Madeira due to issues such as pay, and changes in employment conditions and the teaching curriculum, with the latest issues being over retirement conditions and teacher evaluations, and there have been several strikes in recent years. The issue of teacher evaluations was overcome on Madeira, when the regional government unwisely decided to give them all a blanket evaluation of ‘good’ in 2008.

However, the measures for child assessment on Madeira are set nationally, and it is at least possible to monitor a child’s progress and spot at an early stage if the educational targets are not being met, and then it is not too late to take remedial action through further tutoring, or as a last result a change of school.

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