“This year we have nearly a thousand teachers who have decided to extend their active life beyond the retirement age,” revealed Fernando Alexandre, Minister of Education, Science, and Innovation, during the debate on the Government’s proposal for the State Budget for 2026 (OE2026).
The proposal foresees an increase of 621 million euros compared to the estimated spending this year, reaching nearly 11.5 billion euros for the areas of education, higher education, and science.
Admitting that the lack of teachers in mandatory education remains the main problem of his ministry, Fernando Alexandre recalled some measures taken, such as support for teachers who are away from home or the extraordinary recruitment process to place teachers in schools with more students without classes.
The OE2026 provides 118.4 million euros to be used in measures to reduce the number of students without classes, of which 24.3 million will attract teachers nearing retirement.
According to Fernando Alexandre, almost a thousand teachers agreed to continue working despite having passed the retirement age, receiving 750 euros per month. Last academic year, this measure kept around 150 teachers in schools.
With measures to call back those who left the profession, the ministry managed to “attract around six thousand new teachers” last year, Fernando Alexandre remembered today, revealing that OE2026 includes, for instance, 23 million euros for those placed more than 70 kilometers from home.
There are another 56 million euros to pay teachers who, this school year, are in schools with more hiring difficulties. This funding is for the new extraordinary recruitment process that includes only schools in the Lisbon, Setúbal, Alentejo, and Algarve areas.
Teacher training is another focus of the ministry, which plans to allocate 22.9 million euros for various measures to rejuvenate a workforce where “more than 60% of the teaching staff is over 50 years old,” the minister recalled.
Fernando Alexandre argued that the OE2026 proposal shows “the Government’s strong commitment to investment in education and science,” with a 6% increase compared to the estimated spending this year.
The minister explained that the program is divided into two: the Education Program and the Higher Education Science and Innovation Program.
For education, there will be over 325 million euros (an increase of 5%) to implement a program in the area of school administration and another in the area of learning.
More specialized technicians in schools, including psychologists, is another measure outlined in the OE proposal, with an expenditure of 37.2 million euros planned for next year.
In the first quarter of next year, a competition for 1,406 vacancies is expected to be launched in schools: 830 psychologists and another 576 specialized technicians, according to the OE proposal.
Regarding vocational education, the minister also promised an investment and re-equipping of vocational school laboratories: “404 laboratories across the country, a PRR investment of about 480 million euros, which will completely transform the teaching and learning conditions of students and education itself,” he stated.
