Portuguese daily Jornal de Notícias reported in Tuesday’s edition that the survey, which asks specific questions about the origin of students’ parents (whether they are Roma, African or Brazilians) and had been authorised by the Directorate-General for Education, was handed to parents on Monday in at least two primary schools.
Speaking to Lusa News Agency, Pedroso said the surveys were already being withdrawn, adding that checks were underway to find out “what went wrong.”
“Any survey that is done within school grounds (whether to students, teachers or staff) requires authorisation from the Directorate-General for Education (DGE). There is legislation in Portugal that stipulates when questionnaires are addressed to students, the type of questions and the size of the questionnaire is very stringent,” he said.
The Director General of Education stressed that the DGE has to approve any questionnaire that may be sent out, but then it is up to the head of each school to decide whether to use it.
According to Jornal de Notícias, several complaints about the survey were made to the High Commission for Migration (ACM), the Commission for Equality and Against Racial Discrimination and also to Rosa Monteiro, Secretary of State for Citizenship and Equality.
The issue involves questions about the ancestry of the students and the origin of their parents.
The study was organised by CLOO, a behavioural economics consultancy and was coordinated by researcher Diana Orghian and aims to “improve educational methods in Portugal” and states that it is conducted in partnership with the Belmiro Azevedo Foundation.