Carmelinda Maria dos Santos Pereira was born to a poor family in a small village near Torres Novas in Portugal on 7 August 1948.

There, she came close to being arrested by Portugal's secret police when some parents complained about her teaching methods.

Pereira then attended the Higher Institute of Applied Psychology (ISPA) in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, from which she was among a group of 70 expelled in her third year for political activities.

After the Carnation Revolution in April 1974, which overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime, she returned to ISPA but never completed the course because her political activities took up all of her time.

It was not until 1999–2001, that she completed her training, at the Escola Superior de Educação, in Lisbon, which allowed her to obtain a qualification in Educational Communication and Information Management - School Libraries.