The decision on whether school tests will be carried out on paper or in digital format will be taken “this week”, the Minister of Education announced today, adding that the previous Government “did not leave any plan B”.
“We are evaluating. This afternoon we have a meeting with school directors. It is necessary to guarantee equity among all students. The previous Government did not leave any plan B. For example, logistical issues: if paper is needed to carry out paper-based exams, that paper does not currently exist. We will have to make this decision this week and not postpone it any longer”, said Fernando Alexandre.
In Porto, on the sidelines of a debate on the 25th of April in which he accompanied the President of the Republic, the Minister of Education, Science and Innovation acknowledged that “there is indeed an urgency in taking the decision regarding the format of the exams”, highlighting whenever “an analysis” is being carried out and a decision will be made “this week”.
“We are collecting more information to have maximum information and ensure that students will be able, throughout the national territory, to take the tests under equitable conditions. No student can be harmed by the fact that their school does not have the appropriate conditions”, said the minister at the Rodrigues de Freitas school, at the end of the debate.
On March 26, the National Education Federation (FNE) sent a letter to the Ministry of Education requesting the cancellation of the 9th year benchmarking tests and exams in digital format.
For FNE, carrying out assessment tests for students in the 2nd, 5th and 8th years “puts the stability” of the educational system at risk, taking into account “various constraints” that affect both students and teachers .
Today Fernando Alexandre was also asked about the letter sent this Monday by the secretary general of the PS to the prime minister, in which Pedro Nuno Santos proposes an agreement for the recovery of the entire length of service, as well as the review of the teaching career .
“We are going to schedule meetings this week so that next week [we can] listen to the unions, and then the negotiating process will obviously be announced soon,” he said, without guaranteeing whether or not the agreement will be reached in 60 days as proposed by Pedro Nuno Santos in Letter.
The secretary general of the PS, Pedro Nuno Santos, wrote to the prime minister today making himself available to negotiate an agreement that, within 60 days, resolves the situation of certain professional groups in public administration.
In a letter addressed today to Luís Montenegro, to which the Lusa agency had access, Pedro Nuno Santos adds that “the availability of the PS for this agreement presupposes prior negotiation with the organizations representing workers”.
“I am certain that it will be possible to work towards building this agreement within a period of sixty days, in order to resolve the situation of these Public Administration professionals even before the end of the Assembly of the Republic’s operating period, in July this year”, reads the one-page letter, signed by Pedro Nuno Santos.
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