Portuguese prosecutors open inquiry into digital exam grading as education minister defends process

Criminal inquiry into digital grading

The Portuguese Public Prosecutor's Office opened a criminal inquiry into the electronic grading process of secondary school national exams following a formal complaint filed in July 2026 by the National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof). The Prosecutor General's Office confirmed on 1 September 2026 that the case is under investigation at the Lisbon Regional Department of Investigation and Criminal Action. This year marked the first time that national secondary school exams were graded digitally across Portugal. The transition encountered technical problems from the start, forcing the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation to postpone initial deadlines after teachers reported cataloguing errors, missing test pages, delays in receiving scripts, and system outages.

Union allegations of unlawful instructions

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday called to address teacher shortages ahead of the new school year, Fenprof leaders said that the digital rollout caused severe disruption for students, families, and school staff. Union joint general secretaries Francisco Gonçalves and José Feliciano Costa argued that authorities must determine why the ministry proceeded with publishing grades despite repeated warnings about platform failures. Gonçalves stated that exam secretariats and graders received written orders instructing teachers to evaluate test items even when responses were incomplete due to missing scanned pages.

Faced with the inability to deliver the complete exam content to graders, they gave orders for graders to score them with what was made available to them. Now, because that is an external order, that could constitute an offence.

Minister responds to investigation

Union leaders also criticized the ministry for attempting to deflect responsibility onto school secretariats and individual teachers. Costa emphasized that the union welcomed the investigation to clarify where operational and managerial failures occurred. Speaking on Tuesday at the inauguration ceremony of the Technical University of Porto, Education Minister Fernando Alexandre rejected accusations of wrongdoing and stated that he had a completely clear conscience regarding the administration of the exams. Alexandre maintained that all reported anomalies were examined and corrected, ensuring equity for every candidate.

A clear conscience. A totally clear conscience. The process did not begin well, it began badly, but it ended well. We have more than 50,000 students in higher education. All students received their grades. Those who are not satisfied can appeal.

Review requests and teacher compensation

Alexandre warned that any teacher who graded non-existent or missing questions without proper instructions violated clear grading protocols and would face disciplinary proceedings. The minister noted that the ministry received 21,000 requests for grade reviews, with all corresponding responses delivered on 7 August 2026 as planned. The subsequent complaints period regarding those reviews is currently taking place normally. Alexandre also reported that following an executive order designed to accelerate administrative processing, approximately 9,000 of the roughly 11,000 teachers who graded first-phase exams had been paid for their extraordinary work by the previous Friday. The Portuguese state employs close to 150,000 teachers across all educational tiers.