On July 23rd, the Vice-Minister of Justice, Ivo Valente, led the official opening of the non-formal training session for 37 prisoners of the Becora prison.
Such training is only possible thanks to the joint cooperation between the Ministry of Justice and the National Directorate for Recurrent Education, from the Ministry of Education. Out of a total of 37 prisoners, 25 are attending pre-secondary school and 12 are attending secondary school.
“The State takes into consideration the prisoners’ right to obtain academic qualifications through a non-formal training program, which in the future will ensure their well-being. As humans we are not free from making mistakes, but we are also responsible for avoiding that they might be repeated. When focused in learning and studying we are able to distinguish good from evil”, stated Ivo Valente.
The Vice-Minister of Justice requested that the prisoners who are benefiting from this opportunity “make a learning effort, pay attention, with dedication and will to learn so that later on they may apply all that has been taught during this training”.
This ceremony was attended by the National Director for Prison Services and Social Rehabilitation, Helder Bele, a representative of the Ministry of Education, by Caritas Australia, students and representatives from the civil society.