The
meeting, hosted by Education Above All, happened right before the football
match for the World Cup 2022, in Qatar, between Portugal and Ghana, where
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa showed his anxiety regarding the match, while also
foreshadowing that Portugal should score three goals, which ended up happening.
The quick
conversation focused on education and the Portuguese President of the Republic
talked in the stance of a professor, his profession before becoming the Head of
State of Portugal. Marcelo started his speech by mentioning that, just like a
soccer team, education needs “freedom, to innovate scientifically,
technologically”, so it is possible to improve “individually and collectively.”
The first part of the speech was mainly focused on freedom in accessing
education in Portugal, having the President mentioning that Portuguese students
are mostly women, even Ph.D. students, contrary to what Nana Akufo-Addo mentioned
regarding Ghana, where men still lead the access to education.
The
President of Ghana stated that, a decade ago, access to education in its
country was very limited, as people did not have the pay to keep on studying.
Thus, the government extended free education, and Nana Akufo-Addo mention that
“the impact has been dramatic.” The measure did not only influence students but
also teachers, improving the quality of teaching courses at Ghana’s schools.
Both
presidents agreed when it comes to reaching equity in accessing education,
mentioning it as one of the goals for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for
2030. Regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or even nationality and wealth.
However, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa points out that the Portuguese educational
system needs to evolve, according to digital and social evolution. The
Portuguese president also aims to open borders so high-school students “could
circulate freely” to learn in other places “never forgetting it is a social
goal.”
Marcelo
Rebelo de Sousa added that only with education the world will have sustainable
development, whether it comes to environmental or social reality, underlining
that “everyone must be at school.”
The
conference ended when both presidents exchanged the t-shirt of each football
team, with Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa gladly dressing up in Ghana’s football
team's official t-shirt.
Deeply in love with music and with a guilty pleasure in criminal cases, Bruno G. Santos decided to study Journalism and Communication, hoping to combine both passions into writing. The journalist is also a passionate traveller who likes to write about other cultures and discover the various hidden gems from Portugal and the world. Press card: 8463.
Education in Portugal should include an account of Portuguese enslaving people instead of dressing it up as “Portuguese Discoveries”. Mr. Nana Akufo-Addo was too polite a host to point this out, but Portuguese did have a role in Ghana´s History, - and not a flattering one at that. Suggested reading for those people in dire need of “Education” on these matters (school doesn´t cover them at all, quite passive aggressive for all Portuguese of African descent): 1-“Portuguese role in slave trade”, by Margaret Kamba and Dr.Tony Monda, on 28/3/2019, “The Patriot”; 2-“Portugal must do more to confront colonial past, says Council of Europe”, on 24/3/2021, “The Guardian”; and 3-“Case Study: Portugal and the Transatlantic Slave Trade”, by Mayur Randive, on 25/7/2021, “Human Rights Pulse”. Mr. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa´s Education would have benefitted greatly from this Ghana visit had he visited Cape Coast Castle. (For more info on such sites, suggested reading - “These 9 memorials trace the global impact of Slavery”, by Nneka Okona, on 26/2/2021, “National Geographic” article.) What a lost opportunity for Education as a two-way street.
By guida from Lisbon on 01 Dec 2022, 07:00