Cascais, Portugal, Sept. 21, 2026 (Lusa) - The Portuguese prime minister stated on Monday that the government and the country's president share the same view on the importance of education in shaping citizens, and argued that the difficult challenges had been overcome by the end of the last academic year.
These views were expressed by Luís Montenegro in his speech at the opening ceremony of Cascais Secondary School, in the presence of the country's president, António José Seguro, the minister for education, Fernando Alexandre, and the Mayor, Nuno Piteira Lopes (PSD).
The prime minister began his speech by paying tribute to the Head of State, saying that António José Seguro is a teacher and «a president who is always very attentive, committed and interested in what is happening in schools, at all levels of education».
The president, according to Luís Montenegro, «with a vision shared by the Government, that the process of educating citizens and the realisation of democracy and freedom begins precisely at school». «It begins in nurseries and kindergartens, where, from birth, we want our fellow citizens to develop an interest in and a desire for civic participation and the deepening of knowledge,» he concluded.
In his speech, the prime minister referred indirectly to the problems encountered during the digitisation of national exams at the end of the last academic year, as well as to more recent issues relating to pupils not being allocated places in schools.
«We know that the year ahead brings new challenges; just as the year that has just ended had its own needs that had to be met and objectives that had to be achieved – often with difficulty, often requiring us to be prepared to endure the period of change, the period of progress,» he maintained.
Despite the demands inherent in the process of change, Luís Montenegro considered that «the transformation» had been «successfully navigated» and «has shown that a system which leaves no one behind is worthwhile».
He went on to point out that the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region presents the greatest challenges, describing it as «an area under considerable pressure».
In the Lisbon region, «there are problems which, whilst not exactly the same as those in the rest of the country, are nonetheless profound and highly likely to create obstacles to the exercise of democracy and citizenship».
«It is in this region that we face the greatest difficulties in attracting and retaining, for example, teaching staff. It is in this region that we must combine physical infrastructure with the implementation of public policy measures to provide the right conditions and a fair return for hard work,» he said.
He also pointed out that it is in the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region that «teachers are often unable to pay their rents».
«It is in this region that, very often, caught between their calling and the realities of their choice, many end up leaving teaching and pursuing other career paths. Precisely for this reason, we have been strengthening the tools to ensure that school facilities motivate and mobilise all teaching and non-teaching staff to work towards ever-higher goals,» he argued.
In this context, Montenegro emphasised that his government has focused «a large part of its investment in school facilities» on Lisbon and the Tagus Valley, but also «on the conditions needed to attract and retain staff, particularly teachers.
«That is why we have held special recruitment rounds. We have included a further three thousand teachers in the areas most affected by the shortage of teaching staff,» he said, before referring to other investment plans by the government.
«We have carried out refurbishment work on 87 schools across the country, but we are aware that many remain at a more limited stage of development and, therefore, we need new forms of funding to continue the revitalisation of our school infrastructure. At present, the Government has an agreement already in place with the European Investment Bank for over €1 billion in funding earmarked for improvements to 200 schools. Around half of that figure, €450 million, is allocated specifically to the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region,» he added.
The new Cascais Secondary School has a capacity for 1,320 pupils and represented a total investment of over €32 million. It features 44 classrooms, laboratories, a library, an auditorium, a performing arts room, a learning support centre, a canteen and various facilities to support the school community.
The ceremony included the unveiling of a plaque, a Catholic blessing by the Patriarch of Lisbon, Rui Valério, and a tour of the school's facilities, which were built with co-funding from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).
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