Portugal's exam correction crisis: Minister says 65% done, results due July 17
Portugal's Education Minister Fernando Alexandre says 65% of national exams have been corrected and results will be published on July 17, after technical failures in the first digital correction process forced a delay. The minister also used a parliamentary seminar to criticize past investment decisions and announce higher education reforms.
Correction progress
Fernando Alexandre told SIC Notícias that 93% of the roughly 300,000 national exams for 11th and 12th grades have been distributed to correctors and 65% are already corrected. The minister acknowledged a rocky start but insisted there is now "total calm" in the process. He took political responsibility for extending the correction deadline to July 14 and postponing the release of results to July 17, arguing that pressuring teachers would harm assessment quality. The second exam phase is scheduled for July 20–24.
At this moment there is total calm in the correction of exams. Teachers are doing their job.
- Digital correction of around 300,000 national exams starts for the first time.
- Successive errors and security weaknesses disrupt the correction process.
- Minister extends correction deadline to July 14 to relieve pressure on teachers.
- Publication of first-phase results moved to July 17.
- Second-phase exams scheduled for July 20–24.
Political fallout
The Left Bloc accused the government of stumbling over its own explanations. Deputy Fabian Figueiredo noted that three companies with contracts linked to the digital platform have now distanced themselves from responsibility. The company Blat, which designed the platform, said it merely followed specifications from the IAVE/EduQA bodies and only delivers files as received from external systems.
The government permanently stumbles in its explanations. All companies with contracts with the Ministry of Education, under this digitalization process, say they have nothing to do with it. It's already the third company to do so.
More than 5,700 people have signed a petition demanding the exams be annulled without prejudice to students, arguing that repeated technical failures compromise the validity of the tests.
President's intervention
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa expressed hope that the problems would be resolved quickly and that trust between families and the evaluation system would remain intact. Asked about the president's remarks, the minister avoided a direct reply, saying only that his team was "resolving everything."
The President's wish is that everything quickly returns to normal and, above all, that the relationship of trust between students and their families and the evaluation system remains intact.
Policy speech on education investment
At a parliamentary seminar on professional education, the minister criticized decades of public investment driven by EU fund availability rather than regional needs. He said this logic left Lisbon and the Algarve with degraded schools, higher dropout rates, and lower access to higher education. Fernando Alexandre announced that next week the government will present a revised proposal for a new legal regime for higher education degrees and diplomas, and that CTeSP technical courses will gain the same dignity as bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. A study evaluating those courses will also be released this month.
