Primary Schools

The constitutions of the Bishopric of Funchal, promulgated by Bishop Dom Jerónimo Barreto on 4 May 1579, show that reading and writing were already being taught in Madeira at that time. Those who followed this calling were also obliged to teach Christian doctrine from the newly printed Cartilha (primer), and in their schools they could use only ‘papers & books of sound doctrine’ conducive to the good morals of the children.

Primary education, as can be seen, was then directly or indirectly in the hands of the clergy. Secular teaching was established only much later, and it was the Marquis of Pombal who introduced it on this island.

The law of 6 November 1772 established six primary schools in Madeira: two in Funchal and one in each of the towns of Machico, Santa Cruz, Ponta do Sol and Calheta. Around 1793 a primary school was founded in Campanário (‘bell tower’), and the towns of São Vicente and Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’) later received the same benefit.

In 1821, when liberal principles were proclaimed in Madeira, Funchal had 4 public elementary schools and 2 private schools of mutual instruction (ensino mútuo, the monitorial system), one for boys and the other for girls. In the other places of the archipelago the number of public primary schools had not increased.

By its resolution of 28 June 1821 the Constituent Congress guaranteed primary education to all citizens, and the law (carta de lei) of the 30th of the same month and year allowed any citizen to teach and to open primary schools. The revolution of 1820 was so short-lived, however, that public education in Madeira was never improved. Nor is there anything to record during the absolutist regime that followed, except that, under the government of Dom Manuel de Portugal e Castro, one of the old elementary schools was abolished and its teacher’s salary applied to the upkeep of a public class (aula) in English and French created in Funchal. Primary education began to make progress in Madeira only after the restoration of constitutional government in 1834. From then until 1848, 33 public schools were founded in Madeira, 4 of them by the State in 1838 and the rest by the Municipal Councils. Many private schools also appeared, because the freedom of teaching, abolished by the absolute government, had been restored by the constitutional government.

The Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal) of Funchal founded the boys’ schools of São Roque, São Martinho and São Gonçalo on 14 May 1841; the girls’ school of Santo António on 12 May 1845; the girls’ school of São Roque on 2 October of the same year; and the girls’ schools of São Martinho, Monte, São Gonçalo and Santa Maria Maior on 2 December 1846.

The School for Destitute Children (Escola da Infância Desvalida), founded by the Society of Infant Schools (Sociedade das Escolas Infantis), whose president was Luís da Silva Mousinho de Albuquerque, opened in 1834 or shortly afterwards. The Lancasterian School (Escola Lancasteriana), or school of mutual instruction, for girls, which we have already mentioned above, still existed in 1856, maintained and inspected by a society of Portuguese and foreign ladies. This last school, at least in its final years, was intended to equip poor girls to earn their living as teachers, seamstresses or domestic servants.

In 1837, at the request of the deputy Lourenço José Moniz, the Government granted the Society of Infant Schools a house in Campo da Barca (‘boat field’) belonging to the National Treasury (Fazenda Nacional). It was there that the so-called School for Destitute Children operated for many years. It should not be confused with another school of the same name, founded in 1882 by Freemasonry (Maçonaria) of Funchal, which occupied a building in Rua Nova de São Pedro.

In the 1848–1849 school year the archipelago had 42 primary schools paid for by the treasury or by the municipalities, and 30 maintained by private individuals. Of the former, 29 were for boys and 13 for girls; of the latter, 10 were for boys and 20 for girls. In the municipality (concelho) of Funchal there were 20 public schools, 9 for boys and 11 for girls, and 26 private schools, 8 for boys and 18 for girls.

In 1855 the District had 47 public and 24 private schools. In 1863 there were 34 state schools, 25 for boys and 9 for girls, attended by 950 and 370 pupils respectively, and 17 municipal schools, 8 for boys and 9 for girls, the former with 412 and the latter with 489 pupils. In the same year there were 16 private schools, 4 for boys and 12 for girls, attended by 225 and 374 pupils respectively.

In 1870 there were 36 state schools (27 for boys and 9 for girls), 17 municipal schools (9 for boys and 8 for girls) and 48 private schools (15 for boys and 33 for girls), all of them attended by 1732 boys and 1515 girls. By the 1882–1883 school year the number of public schools (state and municipal) had risen to 65, and there were also 44 independent schools. Of the public schools, 1 was mixed, 42 were for boys, 21 for girls and 1 for the teaching of linear drawing; of the private schools, 7 were for boys and 37 for girls.

The Decree of 7 May 1856 created boys’ schools in the parishes of Camacha, Caniço, Gaula, Porto da Cruz, Santa Torre, Boaventura, Fajã da Ovelha, Ponta do Pargo, Tabua, Canhas, Ribeira Brava and Serra de Água, and girls’ schools in Santa Cruz, Machico, Sant’Ana, São Vicente, Porto Moniz, Calheta, Câmara de Lobos and Porto Santo.

In 1904 the archipelago had 73 public schools, 42 for boys, 29 for girls and 2 mixed; in 1905 there were 2 more, one for boys and the other for girls.

In August 1918 there were 108 public schools in the whole District, 104 state and 4 municipal, the latter for girls. There were also 11 evening classes, all in the municipality of Funchal, 3 state and 8 municipal. Of the state schools, 12 were mixed, 48 for boys and 44 for girls. The municipality of Funchal had 4 municipal girls’ schools and 33 state schools; of these, 16 were for boys, 14 for girls and 3 mixed. Outside this municipality there were no evening classes for males.

At the same time there were 40 private schools for girls and 11 for boys in the whole archipelago. According to the best estimates, these schools together with the state and municipal ones were attended by 6,956 pupils (3,912 girls and 3,044 boys). In 1849, 3,304 pupils of both sexes were being taught in the District’s primary schools, and in 1883 the same schools were attended by 2,500 boys and 2,407 girls.

At the end of 1918, 4 central schools were created in Funchal, 2 for each sex. A report sent by the School Inspectorate of the District (Inspecção Escolar do Círculo) to the Secretary of State for Education (Instrução) on 10 October 1918 states that in the previous school year the city’s state schools had been attended by 570 pupils, of whom only 189 had mastered arithmetic, writing and fluent reading. According to the same report, the latest census of Funchal’s school-age population recorded 5,816 children aged 7 to 14 (2,929 boys and 2,887 girls), while the school-age population of the whole school district reached 19,290.

At present (1922) there are 11 mobile schools in the whole District: 2 in São Roque, 2 in Santo António, 1 in Ponta do Pargo, 1 in Madalena, 1 in Canhas, 3 in Ponta do Sol and 1 on Porto Santo. In September 1919 there were 9 such schools.

The District has (1922) two school districts – the eastern and the western – both based in Funchal. The first comprises the municipalities of Funchal, Santa Cruz, Machico, Sant’Ana and Porto Santo; the second, those of Câmara de Lobos, Ribeira Brava, Ponta do Sol, Calheta, Porto Moniz and São Vicente. Before September 1919 the western district was based in Ribeira Brava; originally there had been a single school district for the whole District, directed sometimes by an inspector and sometimes by a school sub-inspector.

The Ministry of Finance publication entitled Analfabetismo em Portugal (popular leaflet no. 5) shows that the overall illiteracy rate for both sexes in the district of Funchal (Distrito do Funchal) was 88.4 per cent in 1864, 90.1 in 1878, 84.5 in 1890, 90.0 in 1900 and 82.7 in 1911. We do not know the present rate, but it is likely to have fallen since 1911, although people of the poorer classes do not always take care to make their children attend school.

There follows the complete list of the primary schools and teaching posts existing at present (1940) in this district: Parish (freguesia) of Água de Pena: Igreja – double and Torre – double. Arco da Calheta: Arco – boys, Arco – girls, Loreto – double and Florenças – double teaching post. Arco de São Jorge: Lagoa – double. Boaventura: Boaventura – boys and Boaventura – girls. Calheta: Lombo da Estrela – boys, Lombo da Estrela – girls and Atouguia – double. Camacha: Camacha – boys, Camacha – girls, Casais de Além – teaching post, boys, Casais de Além – teaching post, girls, Vale Paraíso – teaching post, double, Nogueira – teaching post, double, Ventrecha – teaching post, double. Câmara de Lobos: Vila – boys, Vila – girls, Lourencinha – boys, Lourencinha – girls, Ribeiro de Alforra – double, Preces – double, Cruz da Caldeira – teaching post, boys and Heras – teaching post, double. Campanário: Campanário – boys and Campanário – girls. Canhas: Canhas – boys, Canhas – girls and Serrado – double. Caniçal: Caniçal – double. Caniço: Vargem – boys, Vargem – girls, Assomada – teaching post, boys, Barreiros – teaching post, boys and Abegoaria – teaching post, double. Curral: Casas Próximas – double. Estreito da Calheta: Estreito – boys and Estreito – girls. Estreito de Câmara de Lobos: Igreja – boys, Igreja – girls, Covão – double, Pico e Salões – teaching post, double. Faial: Covas – boys, Igreja – girls and Lombo de Cima – double. Fajã da Ovelha: Fajã da Ovelha – boys, Fajã da Ovelha – girls, Lombada – teaching post, double and Raposeira – teaching post, double. Gaula: Povo – boys, São João de Latrão – girls, Achada – double, Povo – teaching post, girls. Jardim do Mar: Piedade – double. Machico: Vila – boys, Vila – girls, Caramanchão – double, Caramanchão – teaching post, double, Torre – teaching post, boys and Ribeira Seca – teaching post, boys. Madalena: Madalena – boys, Madalena – girls and Ribeira do Medo – teaching post, double. Monte: Quinta da Piedade – boys, Babosas – boys, Tílias – girls, Quinta dos Reis – double, Corujeira – double, Quinta dos Reis – teaching post, double and Penha de França – teaching post, double. Nossa Senhora da Piedade: Vila – boys, Vila – girls, Campo de Baixo – teaching post, boys. Paul do Mar: Serrado – boys and Serrado – girls. Ponta Delgada: Ponta Delgada – boys, Ponta Delgada – girls. Ponta do Pargo: Salão – boys, Salão – girls, Pico Queimado – teaching post, boys. Ponta do Sol: Vila – boys, Vila – girls, Lombada – double and São Caetano – double. Porto da Cruz: Igreja – boys and Casas Próximas – girls. Porto Moniz: Vila – boys, Vila – girls and Levada Grande – double. Prazeres: Prazeres – boys. Quinta Grande: Igreja – double. Ribeira Brava: Vila – boys, Vila – girls, Banda de Além – double and Lombo de São João – double. Ribeira da Janela: Banda de Além – double. Santa Cruz: Vila – boys, Vila – girls, Terça – double, Rego – double and Janeiro – teaching post, double. Santa Luzia: Santa Luzia – boys, Santa Luzia – girls, Consolação – girls, Viveiros – teaching post, double and Rua Sidónio Pais – teaching post, double. Santa Maria: Rochinha – double, Faial – double, Bom Sucesso – V., Rua de Santa Maria – boys, Rua de Santa Maria – girls, Rua do Conde Carvalhal – girls, Rua de Santa Maria – teaching post, boys and Levada do Foguete – teaching post, double. Santana: Serrado – boys and Igreja – girls. Santo António: Boliqueme – girls, Encruzilhadas – boys, Encruzilhadas – girls, Courelas – boys, Preces – girls, Casas Próximas – girls, Madalena – boys, Madalena – girls, Salão – boys, Ribeirinho – double, Laranjal – boys, Lombo dos Aguiares – double, Pilar – teaching post, double, Pinheiro das Voltas – teaching post, double, Pinheiro das Voltas – teaching post, boys, Ribeira Grande – teaching post, double, Miradouro – teaching post, double and Penteada – teaching post, double. Santo da Serra: Santo da Serra – boys and Santo da Serra – girls. Sé: Rua da Conceição – boys, Rua da Conceição – girls and Sindicato dos Padeiros (Bakers’ Union) – teaching post, boys. Seixal: Poiso – boys and Seixal – girls. Serra de Água: Poiso – boys and Pereira – girls. São Gonçalo: Igreja – boys, Louros – boys, Caminho do Palheiro – boys, Louros – girls, Igreja – double, Valado – double, Pedra Sina – double, Estanquinhos – double, Cancela – double, Neves – teaching post, double and Caminho do Palheiro – teaching post, double. São Jorge: São Pedro – girls and Covas – boys. São Martinho: Ajuda – boys, Ajuda – girls, Ribeiro Seco – boys, Vitória – double, Várzea – double, Areeiro – double, Poço Barral – teaching post, double, Casa Branca – teaching post, double, Amparo – teaching post, girls, Pico do Funcho – teaching post, boys and Lombada – teaching post, girls. São Pedro: Rua da Carreira – boys, Ilhéus – girls, Achada – girls and Cruz de Carvalho – teaching post, double. São Roque: Salão – boys, Salão – girls, Achada – boys, Lombo de João Boieiro – boys and Fundoa de Cima – teaching post, double. São Roque do Faial: São Roque do Faial – double. São Vicente: Vila – boys, Vila – girls, Feiteiras – boys, Feiteiras – girls, Lameiros – double and Vargem – double. Tabua: Tabua – boys and Tabua – girls.