At 11:45, schools were still awaiting the results of the national basic education exams in Mathematics and Portuguese, which were due to be released on Tuesday.
The Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI) attributed the delay to “technical difficulties” in correcting digitally formatted exams, assuring that the grades would be known today.
“The deadline for students to register for the second phase is almost over, and the results have yet to reach the schools,” lamented Manuel Pereira, president of the National Association of School Leaders (ANDE) and emeritus director of the General Serpa Pinto School Group in Cinfães.
At his school, around 100 students took the exams, and according to Manuel Pereira’s estimate, teachers would need two hours to post the grades once they receive the results.
The exam grades account for 30% of the final grade, and calculations will be necessary, potentially resulting in students being retained, as no student can advance to the 10th grade with failing grades in both subjects.
If students fail, they can register for the second phase, but the registration deadline is also nearing, with the new Portuguese exam scheduled for Friday and the Mathematics exam on the following Tuesday, July 22.
Families across the country continue to await the results. At a school in the Loures area, a teacher told Lusa that they expected the grades “to arrive early in the morning,” but as of now, they have not received any information from the education ministry’s services.
In addition, there was another incident affecting 15 schools, where parents and the schools themselves reported issues during the Mathematics exam, leading the National Examination Jury to decide to “allow guardians the option to validate the exam without knowing the grade or cancel the first phase exam and retake it in the second phase as if it were the first,” explained the education ministry’s office.
The Ministry of Education did not specify how many students are affected by this, which schools are involved, or what specific issues justified this option.
Lusa also inquired whether the grades for other students would be released before this issue is resolved, but received no response.
For Manuel Pereira, the manner in which the matter is being communicated “discredits the system and the entire process because it is not clear what happened.”
The ANDE president stated that “when situations are not explained, people can imagine anything. In education, transparency is always the best solution, and if trust is broken, it is detrimental to families, students, and the entire system.”
“People have always felt that exams were reliable and trustworthy, but these issues break credibility. Furthermore, we do not know the reasons that led to such decisions, but they must be very strong in terms of equity to justify them,” argued Manuel Pereira, noting that the limited information disclosed so far is “very strange and makes no sense.”
