Portugal faces teacher shortage, leaving thousands without educators

Portugal's National Teachers' Federation (Fenprof) says that over 800 teachers are missing from Portuguese schools at the start of the academic year.

Transcript

00:00At the start of the academic year, Portuguese schools have a shortage of 800 teachers.

00:06It is estimated that about 200,000 students do not have a teacher in at least one subject.

00:31Low wages, heavy workload and having to relocate to schools far away have led thousands of teachers to leave the profession.

00:40In the last six years, more than 14,500 teachers, and we are talking about a universe of 120,000, 130,000,

00:48so more than 10% of young qualified teachers have left the profession.

00:56By 2030, around 50,000 teachers are expected to leave the education system with not enough graduates to make up for the gap.

01:04The government has already implanted a plan, but the unions pointed out shortcomings.

01:34The Portuguese government also intends to revise the teaching career statute.

01:39The first meeting with the issue is scheduled for 21st of October.