Education, freedom and democracy: Celebrating 50 years of the 25th of April

Abstract

To celebrate 50 years is to write from memory various question marks over the paths we have travelled: social, political, economic and cultural. Half a century ago, Portugal ended four decades of fascist dictatorship. Transformations have taken place in the different sectors of our society. In some of them, such as education, we have endeavoured to make up for centuries of backwardness and intentional disinvestment in just a few decades. A public school was consolidated, no longer reserved for elites, but open to children and young people from diverse realities and backgrounds. We endeavoured to guarantee equal opportunities for access and success in the different stages of our education system. This movement was accompanied by broad expectations of schools, with the hope that they would contribute more effectively to upward social mobility; to develop critical citizens capable of participating in society; to train people for more uncertain futures and rapid changes in the world of work. The public history of schools, particularly in higher education, shows that the road has been travelled so that quality education is not just reserved for ‘heirs’. This path has been taken not only in and through this institution but also by many others in civil society who have emphasised the role that education, in its different facets, has played in promoting the values of April.