João Costa responded in parliament to the PCP deputy, Alfredo Maia, who said there were 92 thousand students in schools without all their teachers due to the “screaming lack of teachers”.

The minister recalled that 1.3 million children and young people returned to school last week and that “98% of students take classes in all subjects. Every week, several hundred timetables are being resolved, reducing the number of students missing a teacher every day, despite more than 600 requests for replacement timetables being received every week”.

A few minutes earlier, Alfredo Maia had presented examples, pointing out as the “most serious scenario” the Algarve, where he said there were “8,800 students without teachers in all subjects”, or Beja, where 4,130 students were experiencing the same problem.

“In Lisbon, at Escola Rainha D. Amélia, for example, at least one 7th year class was missing seven teachers and at Colégio Maria Pia, there are 16 teachers missing”, added the deputy, warning that the situation will worsen, as there are around 1,300 teachers in schools who will retire by the end of the year.

Alfredo Maia also said that deputies from his bench found “a picture of degradation and frustration in schools this week that needs to be stopped”, requiring actions to enhance the teaching career.

In response, João Costa recalled eleven measures, which represent an investment “in excess of 300 million euros”, ranging from the employment of more than eight thousand teachers, “the highest value since there is record”, or the reduction of distances of pedagogical zone staff, which increases from 10 to 63.