The Early Abandonment rate from Education and Training reached the lowest value ever in 2020, below 10%. According to data recently released by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), in Portugal the “Early School Dropout” was 8,9%, having reached 8,4% on the mainland.
In a note sent to the newsrooms, the Ministry of Education emphasizes that «the results show a constant, firm and extraordinarily remarkable evolution of the country, in what is considered by the European Commission as one of the main performance indicators of the educational systems».
The tutelage emphasizes that, in 2019, Portugal had already evolved very favorably – from 11,8% to 10,6% – reaching, in 2020, a result that puts the country to reach the European target – which was 10% by 2020 ».
For the ministry of Tiago Brandão Rodrigues, «these results are even more remarkable considering that they coincided with a very considerable increase in youth employment in recent years, as it could be a stimulus for the non-continuation of studies by this fringe of the population, and with the pandemic situation experienced in the last year».
The Ministry of Education recalls that «two decades ago, when this indicator began to be calculated, according to a common methodology at European level, Portugal recorded values close to 50% of early school leaving and that exceeded the average value by 30%. European Union'.
Now, continues the ministry, «in a context of stagnation of this indicator on a European scale, in recent years, Portugal has managed to counteract this trend and improve its results. Thus, if both trends continue – with Portugal reducing its dropout rate (which is already a fact, with the data currently available) and the European average remains stagnant – the country will have, this year, for the first time , a figure for early school leaving lower than the European Union average'.
In this note sent to the newsrooms, the «Ministry of Education salutes the educational communities for this success of the education and training system, highlighting the need to pursue this path, namely, through the deepening of various initiatives that have translated into positive results in the combating abandonment».
The tutelage gives as examples the TEIP program (Educational Territories for Priority Intervention), the National Program for the Promotion of School Success, the Specific Tutorial Support, the commitment to Professional Teaching and Inclusive Education, and Autonomy and Curriculum Flexibility, among others.
“The challenge of reducing early school leaving continues and worsens in times of pandemic. For this reason, in a period of confinement,
it was determined that children and young people at risk are received in person, through the reinforcement of communication between schools and the CPCJ», concludes the Ministry of Education.
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