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Claiming on School Insurance (Seguro Escolar) in Portugal

Researched and written with AI tools from official sources. How we make our guides

What Portugal's school insurance pays when a child is hurt at school or on the way, what it excludes, and the steps that keep a claim valid.

The Portugal Brief 7 min read

Claiming on School Insurance (Seguro Escolar) in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

  • Your child attends a state pre-school, basic, or secondary school in Portugal.
  • Your child was hurt at school, on a school trip, or on the way to or from school.
  • You want to know what is covered before you pay for treatment.

Not for you if: you are still choosing or enrolling in a school. Read Enrolling Your Child in a Portuguese Public School first.

Every pupil at a Portuguese state school is covered by school insurance (seguro escolar). It is not a policy from an insurer. It is a protection scheme run by the Ministry of Education. It pays for treatment, transport, and some other costs after an accident at school, on a school activity, or on the usual route between home and school. It tops up your health system; it does not replace it. Most pupils pay nothing for it.

The golden rule: tell the school first, and do not arrange private care without its agreement.

How the scheme works

School insurance belongs to the Ministry of Education. Each school's management handles cases day to day. Regional services of the Directorate-General for Schools (DGEstE) decide the serious cases.

It works on top of your child's health system. Your child's cover comes first: the national health service (SNS), a public subsystem such as ADSE, or private health insurance. School insurance pays the part those do not cover.

Nobody has to be at fault. If the event counts as a school accident, the scheme applies.

Who is covered

  • Children enrolled in and attending state pre-schools (jardins de infância).
  • Pupils in basic and secondary education, including vocational courses and education and training courses.
  • Pupils taking part in school sport (desporto escolar) or doing a course placement.
  • Children and young people in holiday or free-time programmes run by the school.
  • Pupils on study visits, exchanges, or school sport competitions abroad (see below).

Activities run by parents' associations or by the council outside school premises and in the holidays are not covered by school insurance. Ask the organiser what insurance they have.

What counts as a school accident

A school accident is an event in the place and time of school activity that causes your child an injury, illness, or death. It also includes:

  • an accident during any activity carried out with the consent, or under the responsibility, of the school's management; and
  • an accident on the journey between home and school, on the terms below.

Accidents on the way to or from school

An accident on the journey counts when all of these apply:

  1. It happens on your child's usual route between home and school, either way.
  2. It happens just before school starts or just after it ends, within the time reasonably needed to cover the distance.
  3. Your child is under 18 and not with an adult who is legally responsible for supervising them.

So a child walking home alone is covered. The same child walking home with a parent is not, because supervision has passed back to the parent. A child walking with a teacher or school staff member is covered.

If a vehicle hits your child

Being hit by a car or other vehicle on the way to or from school (atropelamento) counts only in narrow cases. All of these must apply:

  • The police or courts hold your child wholly or partly responsible.
  • It happened on the usual route and in the usual time window.
  • You report it to the police and the courts within 15 days, asking for legal proceedings. This applies even if your child seemed to cause it, or the driver could not be identified at the time.
  • Your child was under 18 and not with a supervising adult, unless that adult was a teacher or school staff member.

Where a driver is at fault, the driver's compulsory motor insurance is the main route for compensation. The 15-day police report is the deadline families most often miss. Make it even if you think the driver's insurer will pay.

What is not covered

The scheme excludes:

  • an illness your child already has, its prevention, and its treatment, except the first trip to a health unit;
  • an accident on school premises when they are closed, or lent out for activities the school does not organise;
  • an accident caused by natural disasters and other forces of nature;
  • an accident during a riot or disturbance;
  • harm for which the law makes a body outside the school responsible;
  • journey accidents involving a motor vehicle or motorised bike or scooter that carries your child or that your child rides;
  • accidents involving school transport vehicles.

The last two matter most for teenagers. A pupil riding a motor scooter or electric moped to school, or being driven, has no journey cover. An accident involving the school bus falls to that vehicle's own insurance.

What the scheme pays

Medical care, including:

  • general and specialist medical care, tests, and surgery;
  • mobility aids needed for a while, hired when that is cheaper than buying;
  • equipment a specialist prescribes because of the accident, such as orthopaedic devices or glasses;
  • repair or replacement of mobility aids or prostheses your child already used and that were damaged in the accident. Glasses broken in a school accident fall under this.

Where treatment happens. Care is given in public hospitals. Private hospitals or private doctors are covered only if your child's health system, subsystem, or insurance covers them there. Hospital stays are in a shared room or ward, not a private room.

Transport. Use public transport, unless there is none or the treating doctor states in writing that another means suits the case. Every trip needs proof that it happened and a hospital document showing the date of the appointment or treatment. If you justifiably use your own car, the scheme pays a rate per kilometre. Your receipt must show:

  • the car's registration;
  • the kilometres driven;
  • the date and purpose of the trip, backed by the hospital document.

Taxi receipts must be filled in fully, with your child's name, and handed in with the hospital document.

Accommodation and meals, when your child must travel away from home for treatment on a doctor's or the education services' instructions.

Serious injuries. The scheme also provides compensation for lasting harm. In these cases the education services can call your child for a medical examination by a medical board (junta médica). Go to every examination you are called to. Ask the school or DGEstE for the rules and deadlines that apply to your case, in writing.

What to do after an accident

  1. Make sure the school knows the same day. The staff member who saw the accident reports it to the school's management. Check that this happened.
  2. Let the school organise the first trip to hospital. The school gets your child to the hospital that will treat them and contacts you. If you cannot go, a staff member goes with your child.
  3. Ask the school to confirm it has opened its accident inquiry. The school records what happened and decides whether it is a school accident.
  4. Use the public health service. Show your child's SNS, ADSE, or insurance card at every visit.
  5. Ask the school before any private care or extra spending. Do not pay for anything your health system should cover without telling the school.
  6. Claim from your health system first. Hand the original receipts to your health system for its share.
  7. Give the school copies of every cost. Bring receipts, the health system's statement of what it paid, pharmacy receipts with the prescription, and hospital documents for every trip.
  8. Answer the school's questions and go to any medical examination you are called to.
  9. Sign a receipt for any money the scheme pays you.

The costliest mistake is taking an injured child to a private clinic, paying, and asking the school weeks later. That spending was arranged outside the scheme, and private care is not covered unless your child's own health cover reaches it. Ask first.

Who decides, and what if you disagree

The school's management makes the first decision on whether the event is a school accident.

The regional services of DGEstE decide when:

  • your child died or lasting disability is expected;
  • your child was hit by a vehicle; or
  • private hospitals, private doctors, or providers with no SNS agreement were used.

You are told the decision. If you disagree, ask in writing for the reasons and for how to appeal, and by when.

Trips abroad

School insurance covers pupils on study visits, exchanges, and school sport competitions abroad only as a top-up. The school must take out travel assistance insurance for every pupil on the trip. That policy must cover:

  • hospital and medical costs;
  • repatriation and funeral costs;
  • travel, accommodation, and meals for a parent, or someone the parent names, to be with an injured pupil.

Before a trip, ask the school for the travel policy details.

Does it cost anything?

Pupils at state schools below university are covered automatically. You do not opt in. Pupils in compulsory schooling, which covers basic and secondary education for ages 6 to 18, pay nothing.

Pupils outside compulsory schooling pay a premium when they enrol, set at 1% of the national minimum wage. With the 2026 minimum wage of €920 a month, that is €9.20. Some groups are exempt, so ask the school whether your child must pay.

What the school must do

The school must:

  • record, at enrolment, which health system or subsystem your child belongs to;
  • make the first assessment of each accident;
  • get your child to hospital and tell you;
  • publicise the school insurance regulation by posting it in a public area and on its website.

Ask the school's school social support office (Ação Social Escolar, ASE) for help with any claim. For an emergency, see What to Do in a Medical Emergency in Portugal.

This guide is general information, not legal or medical advice. Check your school's own school insurance rules before you act.

Sources

This guide is written from official sources and, where relevant, organisations' own websites.

Last verified October 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.

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