Report by Humayun Kabir from Lisbon Portugal,
The Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum, AIMA presented the first Strategic Plan for Learning Portuguese as a Foreign Language, for the 2024-2027 time horizon, at the Teatro Thalia, in Lisbon on 25 March 2024.
At the beginning of the session, Sonia Pereira, a member of the Board of Directors of AIMA, presented various strategic plans for learning Portuguese under the title Strategic Plan for Learning Portuguese as a Foreign Language.
She said, the document has five strategic axes, 39 measures, and 68 activities, 56 of which will be carried out with the involvement of AIMA, and integrates two two-year operational plans. The Plan is based on a logic of collaborative work, bringing together proposals from the Working Group, created on the initiative of AIMA, contributions from around 80 public and private entities, as well as from the public consultation held between February 16 and March 11, 2024, which counted almost 600 participations.
Later, a round table meeting took place on the importance of the instrument in learning Portuguese and its application in different areas. Almudena Ferro, from the Cidade de Lisboa Foundation, Gagan Deep Singh Dillon, from the Casa da India Association, Mubarak Hussein, the Union of Refugees in Portugal, and Wanderley Antunes, the Association of African Students in Bragança participated in the discussion event.
Centering on the session a collaboration protocol has been signed between the AIMA and the National Agency for Qualification and Professional Education (ANQEP), Camões – Institute of Cooperation and Language, the General Directorate of School Administration (DGAE), the General Directorate of Education (DGE), the General Directorate of Higher Education (DGES), the General Directorate of School Establishments (DGEste), the Faculty of Arts of the University of Lisbon, which is part of the Center for Assessment and Certification of Portuguese as a Foreign Language (CAPLE ), and the Institute of Employment and Professional Training (IEFP). President of the AIMA Luís Goes Pinheiro was present at the event.
while addressing the event, the President of the Board of Directors of the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) Luís Goes Pinheir said, with the approval of this Plan we have fulfilled what was announced at the beginning of our activity and we have taken a very important step in promoting the learning of the Portuguese language, a fundamental factor for full integration. The path we must take together to comply with the execution of this Strategic Plan by 2027 has begun.
He added that, among the main initiatives undertaken with this plan, there is a strong commitment to the use of digital tools and the development of a pilot project to promote specific immersive training in the context of sports practice.
In response to a question from Todays World News 24 Correspondent, The President of the AIMA said the Portuguese language is mandatory for Portuguese nationality but not for a resident permit. thereafter we highly recommend learning Portuguese for foreign expatriates. That’s why we have taken a Strategic Plan for Learning Portuguese as a Foreign Language.
In response to another question about pending cases for resident permits in AIMA, he also said, we are doing our best to solve it, but we expect that we will be able to resolve pending cases for resident permits by June 2025.
At the end of the ceremony, a cultural program was held under the leadership of Pedro Freitas.