The XXV Government Constitutional Program was submitted to the National Assembly on Saturday, with state reform identified as a priority by the executive led by Luís Montenegro, a move that has caused concern for Fenprof.
Worried that the reform agenda could compromise the social functions of the state, particularly in education, the teachers’ federation argues that the program “represents a significant setback for public schools, science, and their professionals.”
“It seeks to absolve the state of its crucial role in ensuring universal access to quality public education and science, promoting equal opportunities and success, and the comprehensive development of citizens for democratic life and society,” the statement reads.
In the chapter dedicated to Education, Science, and Innovation, the government reaffirms the core goals and measures outlined in the previous program, some of which were halted following the government’s collapse, such as the revision of the Teacher Career Statute, a process that Fernando Alexandre’s team now plans to complete by the end of the legislative term.
Initially scheduled for completion in time for the 2026/2027 academic year, Fenprof believes the delay in revising the statute “perpetuates the issue of a teacher shortage and reflects a lack of structured responses,” accusing the government of viewing the situation “as an inevitability, thus absolving itself of political responsibility in this matter.”
Additionally, the federation criticizes the proposal to review the teacher placement regime, insisting that professional seniority is the only criterion that ensures fairness, objectivity, and transparency in placements. Teachers firmly opposed changes to this criterion in 2022, resisting some of the amendments former Minister João Costa intended to introduce.
The new government, which continues with Fernando Alexandre at the helm of the Ministry of Education, Science, and Innovation, still proposes establishing a director’s statute, a plan that also attracts criticism from educators.
From Fenprof’s perspective, this would initiate a professional management body, “reinforcing authoritarianism and hierarchical control of this body, in management increasingly detached from the real interests of a quality, democratic, and free public school.”
In the realm of science, Fenprof regrets the lack of measures to address the underfunding of higher education institutions and criticizes the resumption of the process to revise the Legal Regime of Higher Education Institutions based on the government’s proposal presented earlier this year.
The union further criticizes the Government’s program for considering the private sector as a solution to universalize access to preschool education for children from the age of three through association contracts, a choice Fenprof sees as “an ideological departure from constitutional principles.”
“Teachers, educators, and researchers will respond to the implementation of the detrimental measures in this program with action and struggle, rejecting the transformation of education and teaching into a business, a source of profit for private interests, and demanding urgent solutions for the structural problems of the sector and the profession,” Fenprof emphasizes in the statement.
