The Minister of Education, Science and Innovation, Fernando Alexandre, expressed on Wednesday that the figures from his ministry “are unreliable, whether to calculate the number of students without classes or the need for teachers”.
“In June, we received a report commissioned to KPMG which revealed, what became apparent to me through personal experience, that the numbers from the Ministry of Education are unreliable, whether to calculate the number of students without classes or the need for teachers”, he stated during an interview with Jornal Nacional on TVI.
He illustrated: “A company, when hiring someone, first identifies the need, then hires, and then pays”.
However, Fernando Alexandre noted that within the Ministry of Education, there were three entities—now extinguished—performing different functions: “One validates additional classes, another hires the teacher, and another pays”.
“I requested data on how many teachers are placed in schools. From the hiring entity, the number was around 120,000. Later, I asked the [other] entity how many teachers are being paid. The last payment made was to 129,000 teachers and thus, what I mean is, there is a significant discrepancy and data, as used in Portugal, merely tarnishes the reputation of the Public School”, he emphasized.
The minister further pointed out that “he stated that most schools do not have a teacher shortage because teacher absences are sporadic”.
“In an organization like this, where we have over 120,000 teachers, thousands retire every year, teachers fall ill and need replacement. These mentioned numbers account for all of this“, he asserted.
And data? “We will have it this school year”
When asked about the numbers, the Minister of Education said: “I will not disclose the number”.
“When we next report numbers of students without classes, we will do so with a certified system. We already know, also from the consultancy conducted, that to ascertain precisely who is having classes, we need to visit the classrooms“, he stated.
He added: “The absence of teachers—and this is often the mistake of some unions, which ends up damaging the image of the Public School—is that just because I do not have a teacher at the school, it does not mean the students are without classes”.
Regarding when reliable data will be available, Fernando Alexandre was categorical: “We will have it this school year, I promise that”.
“Those three entities I mentioned have been dissolved and we are establishing the Educational System Management Agency which will become the sole entity schools will communicate with. This will be in place at the start of the school year and henceforth, I will have all accurate information: how many classes are opened, how many teachers are needed, how many we are paying“, he mentioned.
“Teachers are being placed, the process is not yet complete”
In response to a question about whether the country is worse off than a year ago, Fernando Alexandre emphasized that “teachers are being placed, the process is not yet complete”, noting that this year, the process started earlier.
“This is an iterative process. For instance, today, schools are still proposing the opening of classes when the deadline was July 25. When a school proposes opening a class, they must request teachers, so what we are observing is a dynamic, iterative process where teachers are still being placed“, he underscored.
University housing? “We have 90 new residences under construction”
Upon being asked about the lack of affordable housing in universities leading many students to discontinue their studies due to financial constraints, the minister revealed that the government has “90 new residences under construction” and that “19 are already completed, offering about 1,500 vacancies”.
“We will open another nine with more than 1,100 vacancies”, he said, adding there are 49 “undergoing rehabilitation”, which led to “beds being withdrawn from students”.
“I would say it is impossible to do more at this stage. If we manage to fulfill—which we will—the targets of the PRR, we will have another 11,000 beds at the beginning of the next academic year”, he continued.
“In such a short period, doing more is challenging. The country lacks further construction capacity. If we initiate more projects now, we are only going to further inflate the prices“, he explained.
