The Ministry of Education will link specialized technicians with schools

This Friday, the Minister of Education announced that a survey is being conducted among schools about the need for specialized technicians, so a tender will soon be opened to link these specialists.

“We are launching the Mental Health Observatory in Schools and not only do we need to have over 1,200 specialist technicians that we have included in the training recovery plan, but above all, to link specialized technicians, and this is the work that we are preparing together. with the public administration,” Joao Costa said during the urgent debate demanded by the Liberal Initiative (IL) on the topic “Education: this country is not for young people.”

The Learning Recovery Plan, Plano 21/23 Escola+, was scheduled to end at the end of the current school year, but will be extended for another year.

The plan has recruited about 3,300 teachers and nearly 1,200 technicians, including psychologists, speech therapists, social workers and computer technicians.

Joao Costa announced the measure during an urgent debate requested by IL after hearing harsh criticism of the work his team is doing.

“This government is letting the Portuguese down,” said IL leader Rui Rocha, believing that “the failure of the public school is the face of João Costa and António Costa.”

Rui Rocha believes that the closure of in-person learning “for the long months of the pandemic” has led to learning, as well as a shortage of teachers, the failure of the entire training recovery program, or successive teacher strikes.

Rui Rocha’s speech led the PS to ridicule the party’s apparent ideological shift: “We salute you in defense of public schools,” said socialist Miguel Costa Matos.

Bloco de Esquerda and PAN also criticized the IL initiative. For PAN’s Inés Souza Real, the debate “is nothing more than a certain cleansing of the image” of a party that has already “attacked public schools”.

Bloco de Esquerda also recalled that IL advocates that students pay for higher education: “The only thing missing was that students got into debt to get higher education, as the liberal initiative put into its program,” the blockist recalled. Joan Mortagua.

Miguel Costa Matos also accused the IL of defending “a society of ‘slogan’ and every man for himself” in which “both the cradle and the pocket buy success”.

After the left-wing deputies criticized the IL, all the opposition benches of power agreed on the problem of a shortage of teachers in schools, pointing the finger at the minister.

PCP has again defended “hiring all the necessary staff” to keep schools running and “significant enrollment increases” that ensure that “all children and young people receive adequate support.”

PSD, IL and Chega agreed that “this country is not for young people”, arguing that young people emigrate when they graduate, that housing prices are very high, and that graduates this Friday have lower salaries than a decade ago. .

In response, João Costa stated that “Portugal is meant for young people because it is the European country that has the most reduced early school leave and the percentage of young people who are not studying, not working or in training.”

More children in pre-primary education, youth in vocational courses and higher education, as well as 365 specialized technology centers and 300 Qualifica centers that have already guaranteed “more than 1.3 million qualifications”.

In response, Chegi’s leader accused the minister of “being overconfident (…) saying that Portugal is for young people”, noting that “33.6 is the age at which young Portuguese leave home”, being “the most highest in the European Union.

PSD MP Inés Barroso also considered that “public school and education are sick”, recalling that “during the year there were more than 200,000 students without teachers” and that half of the students had “explanations to take exams to citizens”. “.

Several benches have accused the current government of a culture of facilitation, for example, the minister challenged these deputies: “Try to pass the exams that are now held in schools, and maybe, perhaps, you will understand that teaching is much more.” more demanding than when they were studying.”