The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, considered this Friday that the crisis in the Education sector, due to the protests of teachers, could enter the “negotiations phase to reach a successful conclusion”, underlining that this is “the objective of all of us”.
“We may be entering a phase that I really want, which is the phase of negotiations reaching a successful conclusion. That was very important, for everyone”, he said.
The head of state was speaking on arrival in Madeira, where he will participate, on Saturday, in the closing of the Congress of Portuguese Judges and in the inauguration of the regional delegation of SEDES — Association for Economic and Social Development.
“We are on our way to Easter, we have to think about the students, the parents, obviously also the teachers and other agents of the educational system, but a considerable part of the school year has already passed”, he warned, emphasizing that everything that is “abbreviating, facilitating , speed up the resolution of this waiting bar” is critical for everyone.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s statements come after the Minister of Education defended this Friday that the new system for managing and recruiting teachers represents a “structural reform” that will improve the working conditions of teachers, also combating precariousness.
The decree-law was approved on Thursday in the Council of Ministers and, at a press conference on the new regime, João Costa explained that the diploma essentially maintains what had been presented to the unions last week.
Considering that it is a “structural reform”, the minister once again defended the changes, considering that the decree-law defines “concrete measures whose main objectives are to improve the working conditions of teachers, their stabilization, salary appreciation of teachers”, in addition to contributing to “combat and reduce, strongly, the precariousness historically associated with this profession”.