The Minister of Education, Science and Innovation wrote to teachers on the eve of the return to school to wish them an “excellent academic year” with the promise of enhancing the teaching career.
“Classes are about to start. Your students are counting on you. I am counting on you. And I ask you to also count on my team so that, through the actions of our Ministry, we can contribute to quality education for all,” wrote Fernando Alexandre.
In the letter, which began to be sent late Monday afternoon to all teachers, the Minister of Education highlights the devaluation of the profession “over the last few decades”, but promises a review of the Teaching Career Statute.
“Next October we will begin the process of reviewing the Teaching Career Statute. To give teachers the importance they deserve, we must make the career more attractive,” writes the minister.
Negotiations for the review of the Teaching Career Statute will begin on October 21st and the minister hopes that the process will be concluded within a year.
In the letter, Fernando Alexandre also acknowledges the challenges associated with the start of the school year and asks for motivation from the thousands of teachers who, from Thursday, will begin to return to classes.
“I wish you an excellent school year, during which, student by student, we can demonstrate the transformative power of education, fulfilling the expectations that families and the country place on it,” the letter concludes.
Classes begin between the 12th and 16th of September in a new school year that the Minister of Education has already admitted will start with “thousands of students without classes”.
The Government has approved, for this year, a set of measures to try to respond to the lack of teachers in schools, which include the possibility of hiring retired teachers with extra pay or doctoral scholarship holders.
In addition to the “+ Classes + Success” plan, the Government will create support for displaced teachers placed in schools where it is difficult to hire teachers and will carry out, during the 1st period, a new extraordinary recruitment competition for the neediest schools.
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