"When the news was reported, the Ministry sought to find out more. The services went to the schools and, in fact, with the details that were described in the media, we have no identification of the case," said Fernando Alexandre.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI) had already assumed that it had not identified any situation "similar to that reported in the media about an alleged 'lynching' of a '9-year-old' Nepalese student in a school in Lisbon.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the International Conference for Higher Education of the Union for the Mediterranean, at the rectory of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Fernando Alexandre explained that the ministry had only obtained information that the school is in the municipality of Amadora, but does not know whether the case occurred inside or outside the school building.

"The key point is that we must be attentive to cases of violence, whether against foreign or Portuguese children, which obviously have to be reported and we must have all the strategies to prevent them from happening. And ensure that, in fact, in these more vulnerable populations, which arrived in Portugal recently, we manage to integrate them in the best way," said the minister.

Despite admitting that there is still "a lot of uncertainty" about this case, Fernando Alexandre stressed that the integration of young foreigners in schools is a major challenge and that it is necessary to monitor educational establishments to ensure that there are no episodes of violence against students.

"It is one of the major challenges we have in education in Portugal -- the large number of foreigners we have in our schools who obviously deserve great attention from the point of view of integration and also their success at school," said the minister.

Asked about the existence of more similar cases of violence in schools, the minister pointed to information about "a slight increase in violence", according to data from the Annual Report on Internal Security (RASI), which will be officially presented soon.

"We are attentive to this, obviously, but all cases deserve the greatest attention and follow the normal procedures, with all due diligence and attention. No case of violence can be undervalued by any school, obviously," he concluded.

Rádio Renascença reported on Tuesday that a 9-year-old Nepalese boy was "the victim of lynching" at a school in Lisbon.

The complaint was made to the radio station by the executive director of a Church institution, the Centro Padre Alves Correia (Cepac), who considered that "the motivations of the other minors were xenophobic and racist".

In response to questions from Lusa and other media outlets about this case, MECI revealed on Wednesday that Cepac had "initially refused to cooperate" and that only "after insistence" was it able to find out the school where the attacks had allegedly occurred.

"Contacted by the school in question, in Amadora, the Management informed that the only Nepalese students attending the group are in secondary education. It also reported that it was completely unaware of the alleged episode or any similar situation, and had not even received any report of an identical act. Therefore, there is no disciplinary occurrence registered," added the Ministry.

Read Also: Ministry unaware of any attack on Nepalese child in Lisbon (Portuguese version)