Colleges refuse to revise sanctions for inflated grades

The Association of Private and Cooperative Educational Establishments (AEEP) has asked for a hearing with the Minister of Education this Friday to review the school sanctions regime, rejecting the need.

The statement from the association representing private schools argues that the phenomenon of overestimation cannot be seen as a general problem in the sector, stressing that the current regime already provides for sanctions that could even lead to the forced closure of a school.

On Tuesday, the Minister of Education announced that the sanctions regime for private schools is being reviewed, pointing out that one of the shortcomings at present is the fact that inflating grades is not yet classified as a crime, and therefore there is no system of sanctions.

Following Joao Costa’s statements, AEEP requested a meeting with the relevant authorities in order to obtain clarification on the ongoing verification work, as well as to express their disagreement.

“It is unfortunate that the sector has created a perception of inconsistency that is not true, and even more unfortunate that this misconception was passed on on the eve of the national exams, which created even more instability in the education sector,” emphasizes the executive director of the association, quoted in a statement. .

In this regard, the AEOP insists that the overestimation of internal classifications is not a common practice in private education and recalls that it is in colleges that the average grades in national exams are higher.

For example, in the overall “ranking” compiled by Lusa last year based on the results of exams in the previous year, colleges ranked first in the list of 487 educational institutions, and the first public school was in 31st place.

“National exam scores for students in private and cooperative schools are consistently, year after year, significantly higher than in public schools,” the association says, emphasizing that “it is clear that so are internal grades.”

“The Ministry of Education is expected to act appropriately in the event of any misappropriation of internal grades and not generalize negative imputations,” they also state.

Also on Tuesday, a new report from the General Directorate of Education and Science Statistics was released, which concludes that more than a third of students from 39 schools scored 19 or 20 in at least one subject last year, a scenario that has always been repeated for last five years in 24 of these schools, but none in public schools.

In total, there are 41 private schools where the percentage of students with high internal grades exceeded 30% at least twice since 2017/2018. Comparing data with the public sector, there were only four such schools.

The General Inspectorate for Education and Science this year checked 39 schools where student grades were inflated, recommending that seven schools “immediately restore the legitimacy” of their grades.