The coordinator of Left Bloc, José Manuel Pureza, criticized today the Ministry of Education for repeating every year the same "story" about improvements in automatic teacher placement, without solving the underlying problem that leaves students without classes in all subjects at the beginning of the school year. His statements were made to the Lusitania news agency on the sidelines of the inauguration of the party's new district headquarters in Coimbra.
Pureza considered that the thousands of unfilled positions create "turmoil and some chaos" in people's lives, pointing to the cost of living as the main cause. According to the Left Bloc coordinator, there are not enough teachers, especially in Lisbon, Setúbal and Vale do Tejo, because houses are too expensive and teacher salaries cannot cover them. Pureza argued that a transformation of the conditions for attracting and practicing the profession is necessary, emphasizing that "teachers have been severely punished by successive governments" in terms of salaries, career paths, and social recognition.
This Friday, schools began receiving students for another school year marked by the prohibition of mobile phones up to the 9th grade and the lack of teachers. Despite approximately 2,700 positions being unfilled, the Minister of Education, Fernando Alexandre, stated there will be "much fewer students without classes." One of the measures to minimize the problem is the possibility for schools to call teachers daily to replace missing teachers, a mechanism that begins on September 18th.
