Prime Minister Luís Montenegro called for reflection on Portugal's results in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), admitting that the data requires a thorough analysis of the choices made in the area of Education. The leader acknowledged that it is necessary to examine past decisions to understand the drop in learning indicators among Portuguese students.
Montenegro took the opportunity to praise the posture of former Education Minister João Costa in light of the worsening results. The Prime Minister highlighted Costa's "manliness," referring to how the former official publicly faced and acknowledged the deterioration in learning levels during his term.
PISA results have been consistently declining, which has generated concern in the national education landscape. This negative trend has been attributed to various factors, including educational policies implemented in recent years and the impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on the education system.
The Prime Minister argued that the focus should now be on finding solutions to reverse this trajectory of decline. Montenegro emphasized the need for a calm and responsible debate about the future of Education in Portugal, without seeking to assign blame for the past, but rather to learn from the identified mistakes.
