The amendments to the original document released this summer follow suggestions made during a public consultation, which received more than 10,000 proposals, of which only about 3,000 were validated.
The National Citizenship Education Strategy (ENEC) was approved on Thursday in a Cabinet meeting, with Education Minister Fernando Alexandre announcing that sexual education would now be “more explicit.”
In guidelines sent to schools today regarding the subject, the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI) emphasizes that the changes “are not additions” but a clarification of content that had “caused doubts within educational communities.”
The most controversial issue in the revision of the subject was the new approach to sexual education, with associations and civil society criticizing the devaluation of topics they say concern young people.
The government approved today changes to the Citizenship subject, after reviewing suggestions made in the public consultation, making the “dimension of sexual education” more explicit, announced the Minister of Education earlier today.
Lusa | 15:49 – 28/08/2025
The new decree published today clarifies “sexual and reproductive health” in its definition and details forms of violence to specify “dating violence,” “harassment,” and “physical, psychological and sexual abuse,” according to the ministry.
In this area, ENEC dictates that students must learn and promote “attitudes that encourage the adoption of physical and mental well-being,” with a focus on nutrition, physical activity, mental health, and “sexual and reproductive health.”
Schools should also address the “experience of relationships respecting intimacy, allowing informed, conscious and safe choices, contributing to protection against all forms of violence (including dating violence, harassment, exploitation, physical, psychological and sexual abuse, and cyberviolence) and the prevention of consumption, addictive behaviors and dependencies,” as stated in the Cabinet Resolution published today.
Schools will need to address health-related topics in only three school years, unlike the other four areas, which will be mandatory across all 12 years of schooling: ‘Human Rights’; ‘Democracy and Political Institutions’; ‘Sustainable Development’ and ‘Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship.’
The areas of ‘Health,’ ‘Risk and Road Safety,’ ‘Cultural Pluralism and Diversity,’ and ‘Media’ can be addressed in only three of the 12 years of schooling: one year in the 1st cycle, another in secondary education, and finally one year between the 2nd and 3rd cycles.
The subject should be supported “by an approach involving students, teachers, families, and community,” and each school cluster should design its own Citizenship Education Strategy.
Schools will define when to address the four areas that only need to be covered in three school years, states the decree, which also mandates that parents should be informed of the “activities to be developed within the implementation of projects involving Citizenship Education.”
In addition to the changes in the health area, there are adjustments in the ‘Sustainable Development’ aspect, which now explicitly includes “nature conservation and biodiversity,” “animal welfare,” and “ocean preservation.”
Adjustments were also made across the board to the wording and composition of Essential Learnings, according to the government, especially in the Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship area, but also in the Health dimension, where sexuality was specified in descriptors.
The MECI also adds that more comprehensive changes were made to highlight the interdisciplinary nature of Citizenship and Development.
The changes to the subject will take effect this year, but schools will have until the Christmas holidays to develop their Citizenship Education strategies.
