“The school communities are mobilised, the principals, the teachers are mobilised, I think we managed to bring tranquillity, normality to what should be the start of a school year. The assessment is positive because there is a big change in relation to the previous year, which is evident. We have a change in the state of mind and that is what is essential: that the school gives what the families expect it to give”, stated Fernando Alexandre.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the inauguration of the renovation and modernisation works at the Prado Elementary School, in the municipality of Vila Verde, district of Braga, the minister admitted, however, that there are still many students without classes.

“There are too many students without classes, this data is always changing, but we probably have more than 200 thousand students still without classes. But it is a problem that we are trying to solve with emergency measures. We have a competition underway for the areas that are most affected by this shortage”, listed the minister.

Fernando Alexandre recalled that, since the beginning of his term, he has always assumed that the lack of teachers is a problem that “cannot be solved from one year to the next”, praising the work that has also been carried out by school boards.

“The very important role of school boards, the way they use the instruments that have been made available, the way they manage resources, also plays an essential role in ensuring that the maximum number of students have classes. I think this message has been conveyed: we all need to mobilize, the government, local authorities, and school management, so that we can get the system working as well as possible,” stressed the Minister of Education.

Fernando Alexandre also admitted that “there is a shortage of too many teachers,” but did not want to give a number, as “it is always changing,” hoping to have more concrete data in a few weeks to “seriously and rigorously” diagnose the situation.

“We need a few thousand more teachers, who are the ones who are in short supply. In this extraordinary competition, we have opened vacancies for 2,309 teachers only for the schools that we define as most in need. We are talking about thousands of teachers that we need to add,” stressed the minister.

For the Minister of Education, there is a “lack of incentives” to attract teachers.

“We have almost 20 thousand teachers in Portugal who are currently qualified to teach but who are not employed. What we need are incentives. What we have is a lack of incentives for teachers to teach where they are most needed,” said Fernando Alexandre, guaranteeing that “the measures are having an effect” and that the Government is “working on multiple fronts”.

As for the retired teachers that the government wants to bring back into the education system, the Minister of Education believes that there will be retired teachers available to return to school and help solve the problem of the teacher shortage.

“We set a target of 200 and I think it will not be difficult to achieve this target. Many teachers retired because they were disillusioned with the path that education was taking. If they feel that there is a new appreciation for their work, their noble mission and that they are essential to solving a very serious problem in our education system, which is having many students without classes, I think they will respond to our call,” predicted Fernando Alexandre.