A signing ceremony for the establishment of the Friends School and Portuguese language teaching cooperation between Macau Portuguese School (EPM) and Hengqin New Area No.1 Primary School was held on 26 September in Hengqin. José Luís de Sales Marques, Board Member of the Portuguese School Foundation, and Zhang Haoliang, principal of No.1 Primary School, signed on behalf of both parties.

Marques told Hengqin Record that the idea of bringing the two schools together came from a conversation between Roberto Carneiro, Chair of the Managing Board and CEO of the Portuguese School Foundation of Macau (FEPM), and Alexis Tam, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macau SAR Government.

“This cooperation is in line with one of the goals of the Foundation which is to cooperate with schools in the Mainland seeking some sort of assistance in teaching Portuguese to their students. And it took just few months to make it happen,” Marques said.

Last September, a protocol agreement was signed between the FEPM and the Macao Polytechnic Institute (IPM) to foster the learning of Portuguese in Mainland China at primary and secondary education level.

Marques also noted that the cooperation has the support of the Hengqin government.

“They are very helpful. I am not completely well informed about the internal arrangements, but I know they are giving full support,” he said.

“The teacher was sourced by us and is a Macau resident.”

Adjacent to the University of Macau and Hengqin Port, Hengqin New Area No.1 Primary School is now the only public primary school in Hengqin New Area.

“It is the first time we have done a formal agreement and I think this is the very first primary school in Mainland China to offer classes of Portuguese language to their students,” Marques explained. “This is an excellent opportunity to extend cooperation between the Portuguese School and Hengqin. The mood is very enthusiastic and I’m sure both sides will come up with new ideas in the near future.”