The school year starts today, but there are still not enough teachers

The 2023/2024 school year begins this Tuesday for about 1.3 million students in grades 1 to 12, but many will not yet study all subjects due to a shortage of teachers in schools.

Schools are due to officially start the school year from Tuesday to Friday, but teacher shortages are again hampering the return to school, leaving thousands of students without a teacher in at least one subject.

At the end of last week, even after nearly three thousand teachers had been hired, schools still had about 1,300 empty timetables, and on Monday the National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof) reported more than 100,000 students without a teacher.

The shortage of teachers mainly affects schools in the Algarve, Lisbon and Tagus Valley regions, as well as some subjects in particular such as Portuguese, mathematics or information technology.

The problem is acknowledged by the Education Secretary, who last year expanded requirements for hiring lay teachers and admitted at the weekend that he was working on measures to support laid-off teachers.

João Costa, who this Tuesday will be professor at the Escola Básica Abílio Madeira Martins in Minda, the Escola Básica do Cabo, Vialonga and the Escola Básica e Secundária de Vialonga, also said that some changes planned in teacher training could also help. in response, for example, by bringing back paid internships.

However, teacher shortage may not be the only factor keeping students out of school as the school year is expected to start much like the previous one, with strong opposition from school officials.

From today, a platform of nine trade union organizations, which includes Fenprof and the National Federation of Education (FNE), is launching a strike against overwork, overtime and non-teaching components.

The strike does not affect classrooms, but at the beginning of the second week, the All Education Workers’ Union (Stop) calls a five-day strike. Less than a month later, on October 6, the trade union platform called a nationwide strike.

The reason for the challenge remains – the restoration of six years, six months and 23 days of service – and there appears to be no intention on the part of the unions to slow down the fight as long as the Ministry of Education accepts this demand, which has been rejected several times by the government.

With more or less strikes this year, the learning recovery plan to overcome the difficulties encountered during the Covid-19 pandemic also continues, but this time without strengthening teachers.