Growing Immigration in the Azores Prompts Calls for Greater Inclusion in Schools

With about 10,000 immigrants and 1,300 international students in the archipelago, educators and community leaders are calling for language support, greater cultural understanding, and stronger anti-discrimination measures.

The growing immigrant population in the Azores is creating new challenges for the region’s schools, prompting educators, researchers, and community leaders to call for stronger integration policies, greater cultural awareness, and coordinated efforts to prevent discrimination. The concerns were raised during the Second Island Congress, “Looking to the Future: Innovating in Educational Intervention,” held October 16–17 in Praia da Vitória on Terceira Island.

Organized by Olhar Poente – Development Association, the two-day conference brought together specialists in education, immigration, social inclusion, and child development to examine how schools can respond to increasingly diverse student populations.

Leoter Viegas, president of the Association of Immigrants in the Azores (AIPA), reported that approximately 10,000 immigrants currently live in the archipelago, with around 1,300 international students enrolled in regional schools. He emphasized that the Azores have become a multicultural society but have not yet fully developed the intercultural relationships necessary for meaningful integration.

“A society that receives and lives daily with people from 100 different countries is a multicultural society. But do we have an intercultural society in the Azores? I believe that is our greatest challenge,” Viegas said.

He noted that immigration patterns have changed significantly over the past three years, particularly with increasing arrivals from South Asian countries, including Bangladesh, Nepal, and India. These developments, he argued, require schools to reconsider whether they have sufficient resources, training, and institutional support to integrate students from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

Viegas identified Portuguese-language instruction, access to housing, and dignified employment as essential elements of successful integration. He also stressed that the process requires sustained cooperation among the regional government, municipalities, parish councils, social institutions, schools, and individual citizens.

Although he described Azorean society as generally welcoming, Viegas acknowledged that AIPA has received reports of discrimination in educational institutions. He urged schools and public authorities to address these situations directly while promoting a better understanding of cultural diversity.

The discussion also highlighted the importance of preparing existing students and teachers to participate in inclusive school communities. Speakers cautioned that integration initiatives should not focus exclusively on newly arrived children. Schools must also help established student populations understand diversity, challenge stereotypes, and develop respectful relationships across cultural differences.

Mónica Pacheco, coordinator of national programs at UNICEF Portugal, emphasized that meaningful educational reform begins by listening to children and young people.

“The simplest and most revolutionary thing is to truly listen to children,” she said, noting that students frequently offer creative solutions to problems affecting their own educational experiences.

Pacheco argued that inclusion programs should be designed around students’ actual needs rather than adding administrative responsibilities disconnected from their experiences. She expressed optimism that schools will become increasingly democratic environments where young people participate more actively in decisions affecting their education.

Representatives of EPIS (Entrepreneurs for Social Inclusion) also emphasized the importance of identifying the specific circumstances that place students at risk of educational disadvantage.

Elisabete Maciel, a mediator in the EPIS School Success Mediators Program at Francisco Ornelas da Câmara School, explained that effective intervention requires examining not only academic performance but also family circumstances, relationships with classmates and teachers, and students’ expectations.

Andreia Ferreira, EPIS director of school success promotion programs, reinforced the need for individualized assessments. Whether students face language barriers, economic hardship, or learning difficulties, educational support must address the real sources of inequality.

Another central concern was the increasing visibility of discriminatory attitudes and hate speech. Ana Luísa Martinho, a sociologist and professor at the Polytechnic Institute of Porto, warned that schools must remain places where equality, inclusion, and democratic values are actively defended.

“Schools are, always have been, and hopefully will always continue to be spaces of resistance,” Martinho said. “If there is a place where the principles of equality and inclusion are fundamental, it is in schools. Education is how things change.”

She also challenged the assumption that Portugal’s long history of emigration necessarily guarantees an inclusive attitude toward immigrants. Despite the country’s experience of sending generations abroad, she observed, racism and discrimination remain issues that require public acknowledgment and sustained educational responses.

Viegas similarly warned that misinformation circulating on social media can contribute to hostility toward immigrant communities. He called for accurate information and evidence-based public discussion to counter misleading claims.

Opening the congress, Sandra Serpa, president of Olhar Poente, argued that innovation in education must extend beyond new teaching methods and technological tools.

“Innovating in educational intervention means, above all, looking at every child and young person in their individuality, recognizing their abilities, understanding their needs, and creating the conditions for everyone to learn, participate, and fully develop their potential,” she said.

Serpa emphasized that schools cannot address these challenges alone. Families, social organizations, healthcare professionals, local authorities, and communities must work together to create effective support systems.

She also suggested that the geographical scale and close community relationships characteristic of the Azores could become advantages in developing coordinated educational initiatives.

The conference underscored a significant transformation in Azorean society. An archipelago historically associated with emigration is increasingly becoming a destination for people seeking new opportunities, bringing additional languages, cultural traditions, and experiences into its classrooms.

For a region whose own emigrants and descendants have long faced the challenges of adaptation abroad, the changing composition of its schools presents both a practical educational responsibility and an opportunity to reconsider the meaning of cultural belonging.

The congress’s central message was that successful integration requires more than placing children of different nationalities in the same classroom. It demands language instruction, individualized educational support, teacher preparation, meaningful student participation, and a commitment to confronting discrimination.

As immigration continues to reshape the Azores, schools will play a decisive role in determining whether the region’s growing diversity develops into genuine intercultural understanding.

Based on the report published by Diário Insular, José Lourenço, director, concerning the Second Island Congress, “Looking to the Future: Innovating in Educational Intervention,” organized by Olhar Poente – Development Association in Praia da Vitória, Terceira Island, October 16–17, 2026. The photo is from the organization.