02-09-2026

The Prepaid School Card, developed by Payshop, the payments unit of the CTT Group, in partnership with Edubox and Inovar Mais, is already present in 135 entities (129 municipalities and 6 Parish Councils and Parents' Associations), covering more than three thousand schools and approximately 800,000 students, equivalent to about 65% of public school students. Up to July of this year, 2.4 million top-ups were made, corresponding to an amount exceeding 54 million euros.

At a time when schools are preparing for the start of another school year, these numbers reflect the growing adoption of digital solutions that simplify the management of school services and facilitate the daily lives of municipalities, schools, students, and families.

"This growth demonstrates the confidence placed in Payshop to manage a service so relevant to the daily lives of the educational community. We believe that our role is to develop simple, accessible, and secure payment solutions that help modernize public services and make the relationship between municipalities, schools, and citizens more efficient. The reach already achieved by the Prepaid School Card confirms Payshop's ability to respond to concrete needs and generate value through innovation," highlights Payshop CEO Ricardo Luz.

Created to support municipalities in managing the responsibilities transferred to the education sector, this solution allows for the centralized, secure, and efficient management of payments such as school meals and other payments made in the school context. Through a single system, the entire educational community can use the card to access and pay for services provided by schools, including cafeterias, bars, stationery shops, reprographics services, and vending machines.
Joining the service is simple, does not require any connection to a banking institution, and does not incur costs for students and their families. Activation can be done through the Municipal Education Management Platform, directly at the school, or at municipal services.

For greater convenience, top-ups can be made through the Payshop network, Multibanco, or MB Way. Account management and transaction tracking are carried out through the SIGA platform, which ensures an integrated experience for families, schools, and municipalities.

The solution was developed to guarantee a complete and real-time view of the operation, benefiting from integration with the education management platforms used by municipalities and school clusters. This interoperability allows for faster, more efficient, and secure information exchange, simplifying administrative processes and improving the management of school services.

Source: CTT Portugal Post