Thousands of pupils in Portugal’s schools have no teachers in many subjects as the chaotic allocation of teaching staff continues to disrupt the education system.
This year’s mishandling of the allocation already has seen one head roll, that of Mário Agostinho Alves Pereira, whose ‘resignation’ was accepted by an increasingly vulnerable Education Minister, Nuno Crato.
Pereira, Director General of School Administration since 2009, took the blame for the mess by admitting he “incorrectly applied a formula” used in allocating jobs in an archaic, illogical and over-complicated system for both the school heads and the national pool of teachers.
Such is the mess that it now appears that hundreds of teachers who actually were given a post now will have to change schools despite having been teaching for nearly a month, while others are still waiting to be placed.
Many schools have given up asking children to attend, there seems little point when there is nobody in the classroom to teach them.
Thousands of teachers gathered in Lisbon last weekend to voice their opinion of the Government’s education policy and to demand the resignation of Minister Nuno Crato. The gathering conveniently was part of World Teachers’ Day taking place on Sunday.
With demands for the Justice Minister to resign, and now the Education Minister, Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho needs to act as his current lack of leadership in these two key and highly visible areas is further damaging his own image.
Buoyant trade figures and increasing tourist income is not enough to get Coelho relected next year when justice and education are in the hands of such incompetents.