Independent schools in Portugal have been blocked from providing remote learning for at least two weeks over fears that pupils will gain an unfair advantage over those in state schools, The Times reports.
Rising Covid-19 infections in the country drove its minority Socialist-led government to announce last Thursday that schools would be closed and all pupils forced to take a two week holiday.
The ban includes all international and private schools, and British children living in Portugal doing GSCEs and A-levels or the International Baccalaureate cannot by law learn anything for the next two weeks.
State-provided remote learning in Portugal has been patchy through the pandemic, with much criticism levelled at schools.
British parents living in Portugal have said that the move is “absolutely outrageous”.
Opposition leaders said the ban was a “totalitarian and Marxist-style measure”.
The Association of Private Schools in Portugal said it was unconstitutional to prevent students from learning.
The story comes as some independent school leaders in the UK have complained that cancelling exams this year does not necessarily ensure fairness between students who have had different levels of disruption to learning during the Covid crisis.