The survey was executed by the “Movimento Menos Ecrãs, Mais Vida”, which studied the opinion of guardians with children attending schools that joined the Manuais Digitais pilot project.

“We have conducted over 200 surveys, involving more than nine groups of schools in Coimbra, Lisbon, Ponte de Lima, Almada, Paço de Arcos, Ponta Delgada and even Madeira. Although the data is still preliminary, we have more than 80 percent dissatisfied parents, who want the project to end”, lamented Catarina Prado e Castro.

Catarina Prado e Castro has two children studying in Coimbra: the oldest in the 5th year and the other in the 3rd year, at the Escola Martim de Freitas. At the beginning of the school year, her younger child began carrying a computer instead of books. The parents’ position of not giving their children a cell phone and controlling access to screens ended up being trampled on by the school.

“Families cannot choose whether or not to let children have access to the Internet, and many of these computers do not even have restrictions on adult content”, she stressed.

Catarina Prado e Casto’s son is one of the 23,159 students from the 3rd to the 12th years who this year are experiencing the pilot project launched by the Ministry of Education, which began gradually in 2020/2021 and operates in 160 schools today.

“The destain I feel towards the project is shared by the majority of parents and teachers I speak to”, the mother told Lusa, justifying the launch of the petition to return to paper books, which already has more than two thousand signatures.

The excessive time spent in front of the computer, the feeling of not being able to prevent the use of screens and access to inappropriate content were some of the reasons which led her to launch the petition.

“I can’t find anything positive to say about his project”, she added, pointing out the student’s difficulty in concentrating when studying, noting that her eldest son could be working and have a game running at the same time.

Through the “Movimento Menos Ecrãs, Mais Vida”, the petition and now the survey, Catarina realised she was not alone in this fight: “The vast majority of parents want the project to end”, she assured.

The final results of the survey will be released soon, as the survey is running on the organisation’s website - https://forms.gle/WHBGtdcehUkPryjE7 - and hopes to have more responses and increase the sample to publicise.