Coimbra City Council wants to transfer professional school to Ceira

The Coimbra City Council proposed to the General Directorate of School Establishments (DGEstE) the installation of the Artistic and Professional Technical Institute (ITAP), which is owned by the Municipality, at the Ceira School.

ITAP, located in the Solum area, in the center of Coimbra, will have to abandon the facilities where it is located, and is currently paying a monthly rent of six thousand euros.

At this Monday’s Municipal Executive meeting, the councilor responsible for Education, Ana Cortez Vaz, stated that the Municipality’s solution is to transfer ITAP to the Ceira School, which has “a very low occupancy”.

According to the councilor, the Municipality is awaiting a response from DGEstE, also clarifying that the group where the Ceira School is located was also consulted.

The technical services of the Coimbra City Council have already been to the Ceira School, said Ana Cortez Vaz, highlighting that it would be possible to isolate “one of the blocks and ITAP could operate there”.

The Mayor of Coimbra, José Manuel Silva, admitted that the Municipality’s preferred solution would not be that one, but said that this other option, which he did not say what it was, would cost four million euros.

“We continue to work on a solution that, given the current circumstances, will be the only viable solution and that guarantees the continuity of ITAP”, stressed the president, elected by the Juntos Somos Coimbra coalition.

The issue of ITAP was raised by PS councilor Regina Bento who asked the Executive whether a solution had already been found for the new facilities of that professional school, managed by Prodeso, a municipal company.

In 2023, the Municipality reported that Prodeso was making a loss and a loss of 54% of students between 2017 and 2022.

During the period before the agenda, the councilor responsible for urbanism and mobility at the Chamber, Ana Bastos, revealed, on the other hand, that the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) will take on the stabilization of Foz do Ceira, in its confluence with the Mondego river, next to Ponte da Portela.

The person responsible recalled that the problem in that area “was considerably aggravated by the destruction of the riparian gallery carried out by the previous Executive, in 2021, [numa intervenção entre a Portela e o Rebolim] and which made that margin even more vulnerable”.

According to Ana Bastos, there were several meetings with the Minister of the Environment and site visits with national and local APA leaders to ensure a resolution of the problem.

“The state of erosion of the bank has been getting worse, with the river excavating and swallowing the soil, making it necessary to adopt measures, which, due to their scope and typology, will necessarily be large”, he stressed.