In an interview with Antena 1 on the eve of the start of another school year, the Minister of Education, Science, and Innovation, Fernando Alexandre, said that in "98% to 99% of schools, all teachers are placed, and students will have classes in all subjects."

The number of students without all their subjects "has not yet been calculated," but the minister guarantees that the needs of schools "are much smaller" than the number of professional teachers not yet placed.

There are "more than 20,000 professional teachers not yet placed," he said, acknowledging that the majority live in the north of the country and the needs are essentially in the areas of Lisbon, Alentejo, and Algarve, where housing and travel costs are unaffordable.

According to Fernando Alexandre, there should currently be around a thousand full schedules to be filled in schools.

According to Fenprof estimates, based on school requests to fill schedules that remained unassigned on Monday, approximately 276,000 students are affected, of which more than four thousand are primary school children at risk of starting the year without a teacher.

For unions, making the profession more attractive is essential. In response, the Ministry has already announced that it will begin negotiations this month to revise the Teaching Career Statute.

Regarding the lack of early childhood education positions, the minister noted that the department will sign association contracts to increase the number of positions in the public school system.

Classes begin at the end of this week for 1.6 million children and young people from preschool to high school.