The Minister of Education insisted today on the need to "guarantee good conditions" for carrying out the final tests and exams, thus justifying the request for minimum services to be enacted for teachers' strikes.
"Right now, what is important is to realize that it is up to the Ministry of Education to guarantee stability and predictability at a time that is particularly sensitive for students and families", said João Costa, in a press conference at the end of the meeting of the Council of Ministers.
The nine teachers' unions, united on an informal platform, announced on Wednesday that they would strike at national exams and final assessments, in yet another of many forms of protest to demand the recovery of tenure.
At the end of the day, the Ministry of Education informed that it would ask that minimum services be enacted, pointing out the need to “guarantee the interest of students and families – in particular in the dimension of predictability that the evaluation cycle must have”, in addition to access to the University education.
Asked about the strikes, João Costa said that "it is important to guarantee the good conditions for carrying out the tests, exams and final evaluations".
Teachers' opposition has been going on since December, with strikes and protests taking place almost non-stop to demand the recovery of all the length of service that was not accounted for after the thawing of the career.
Still on this topic, the Minister of Education said that the executive was preparing to appeal a decision by the Lisbon Court of Appeal, which considered legal the definition of minimum services for strikes carried out in February and March.
João Costa was also asked about the assessment tests, which are taking place this year in digital format, for the first time, by all students and while teachers are also on strike.
Teachers and school directors have reported several constraints, resulting from the digitization of tests and the strike, but, according to the minister, the Information and Communication Technologies tests, between 16 and 26 May, recorded a completion rate of around 90% , “in line with the tests carried out in recent school years”.
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