Some students had neither digital versions nor paper copies to work from.
No arquipélago dos Açores, onde a distância entre ilhas amplifica cada falha do Estado, o início do ano letivo de 2025 tornou-se espelho de uma tensão mais profunda: a que existe entre a governação do possível e a exigência do necessário. Na Assembleia Regional, em Horta, deputados de vários partidos confrontaram um governo que reivindica progressos reais — a taxa de abandono escolar caiu de 27% para menos de 20% — mas que não consegue esconder atrasos na distribuição de manuais digitais, escassez de professores e edifícios escolares em degradação. O que está em causa não é apenas logística, mas a equidade: há alunos que começaram o ano sem livros, nem em papel nem em ecrã, e essa ausência tem peso.
- O ano letivo arrancou, mas para muitos alunos dos Açores sem manuais — nem digitais nem em papel —, o que devia ser um recomeço tornou-se uma espera.
- A escassez de professores agravou-se, o número de bolseiros de ocupação diminuiu, e os edifícios escolares acumulam anos de investimento adiado.
- Na Assembleia Regional, a oposição não falou a uma só voz: o Bloco de Esquerda denunciou desperdício nos fundos europeus aplicados em manuais digitais; a Iniciativa Liberal responsabilizou o governo pela escolha que fez; o Chega reconheceu a dificuldade de governar um sistema em movimento.
- O governo contrapôs com dados — a taxa de abandono escolar melhorou significativamente desde 2020 — e com a promessa de coordenação diária entre todas as ilhas para resolver os problemas à medida que surgem.
- A proposta de cortar 12,1 milhões de euros na secretaria da educação no orçamento de 2026 lançou uma sombra sobre os argumentos do executivo, sem resposta clara sobre como conciliar cortes com ambições declaradas.
Na Assembleia Regional dos Açores, reunida em Horta, o arranque do ano letivo de 2025 transformou-se em campo de batalha político. A deputada socialista Marlene Damião abriu o debate com uma acusação estruturada: manuais digitais distribuídos com atraso, professores em falta, edifícios escolares sem política de recuperação. Para ela, o retrato era o de um governo incapaz de planear o básico — e alguns alunos começaram as aulas sem qualquer manual, digital ou impresso.
O debate que se seguiu revelou diagnósticos diferentes para o mesmo problema. José Pacheco, do Chega, usou a metáfora do pneu trocado com o carro em andamento: governar a educação não permite paragens, e isso torna qualquer intervenção mais difícil. António Lima, do Bloco de Esquerda, foi mais duro: os problemas eram conhecidos há anos, os alertas tinham sido feitos, e o investimento em manuais digitais com fundos europeus de recuperação era, na sua leitura, um desvio de recursos face ao que os alunos realmente precisavam. O seu partido proporia incentivos para atrair professores às ilhas, em linha com o que existe no continente.
A secretária regional da educação, Sofia Ribeiro, rejeitou o que chamou de arrogância da oposição e enumerou obras realizadas numa infraestrutura que, segundo ela, estava profundamente degradada quando o governo tomou posse em 2020. Reconheceu imperfeições, mas defendeu um executivo que trabalha diariamente, ilha a ilha, de Santa Maria ao Corvo, para identificar e resolver problemas.
Os números deram ao governo um argumento real: a taxa de abandono escolar desceu de 27% para menos de 20% em cinco anos. Mas Nuno Barata, da Iniciativa Liberal, lembrou que a escolha de investir em manuais digitais foi do próprio governo, e Pedro Neves, do PAN, colocou a questão mais incómoda: como se explica que o orçamento de 2026 proponha cortar 12,1 milhões de euros na educação, se esta é apresentada como prioridade equivalente à saúde?
O que ficou do debate foi a imagem de um sistema com progressos reais num indicador crítico, mas com falhas operacionais persistentes e uma tensão não resolvida entre recursos limitados e obrigações crescentes. Os alunos estavam nas salas. Alguns tinham os materiais. Outros não. E o parlamento falou — mas os problemas ficaram.
In the regional parliament chamber in Horta, on the island of Faial, the Azores education system became the subject of sharp political dispute. The Socialist Party's Marlene Damião stood to deliver a statement that cut to the heart of what she saw as governmental failure: the school year had begun, as it does every autumn, but this time marked by delays, improvisation, and what she called a troubling absence of strategic planning from the regional government led by the center-right coalition.
Damião painted a portrait of institutional dysfunction. The distribution of digital textbooks had fallen behind schedule—a failure she framed as emblematic of the government's inability to execute even basic tasks. Some students, she noted, had neither digital versions nor paper copies to work from. The shortage of teachers, she argued, had not improved but worsened. The number of occupational scholarship holders had shrunk significantly. And across the islands, school buildings themselves remained neglected, with no coherent policy to address their deteriorating condition.
The debate that followed revealed a parliament divided not just along party lines but in its very diagnosis of the problem. José Pacheco from the Chega party offered a metaphor: fixing a car's tire while it's moving down the road is difficult, he said, and education is precisely that kind of problem—you cannot simply shut down the schools to solve everything and then restart. He acknowledged the government was managing some interventions while struggling with others, the difficulty inherent in the task itself. António Lima from the Left Bloc took a different view, insisting that these problems were not new, that they had been flagged repeatedly over years, and that the digital textbook initiative was wasteful spending from European recovery funds that ignored what students actually needed. He promised his party would propose incentives to attract teachers to the islands, matching support levels available on the mainland.
The government's response came through Sofia Ribeiro, the regional education secretary. She objected to what she called the arrogance of opposition claims that the government refused to listen, and she pointed to initiatives already underway. The government, she said, had inherited a deeply degraded school infrastructure when it took office in 2020, and in five years had undertaken substantial repairs. She acknowledged that no perfect world exists, but she insisted the government worked daily, coordinating across all the islands from Santa Maria to Corvo, to identify and resolve problems.
The numbers told a partial story. When the current government took office, the early school abandonment rate stood at 27 percent. It had fallen to below 20 percent—a genuine improvement that the PSD's Delia Melo cited as proof that opposition criticism was alarmist. Yet other voices raised concerns that cut across the partisan divide. Nuno Barata from the Liberal Initiative acknowledged education was a recurring problem that parliamentary theater would not solve, but he placed direct responsibility on the government for the digital textbook rollout, since the government had chosen to make that investment. Pedro Neves from the People-Animals-Nature party raised perhaps the most concrete worry: the regional budget for 2026 proposed cutting 12.1 million euros from the education secretariat, and he wanted the government to explain how that squared with education being a pillar as important as health itself.
What emerged was a system under strain, with measurable progress in one metric—keeping students in school—shadowed by persistent operational failures and structural neglect. The opposition saw a government unable to manage basics. The government saw itself fighting inherited problems while making real headway. Neither side disputed that teachers were scarce, that buildings needed work, or that textbooks had not arrived on time. The disagreement was whether these were signs of systemic incompetence or the inevitable friction of governing a dispersed island region with limited resources. The school year had begun. Students were in classrooms. Some had the materials they needed. Some did not. And the parliament had spoken, but the problems remained.
Citas Notables
The school year began marked by delays, improvisation, and a troubling absence of strategic planning— Marlene Damião, Socialist Party deputy
The government works daily, coordinating across all islands from Santa Maria to Corvo, to identify and resolve problems— Sofia Ribeiro, regional education secretary
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does a school year starting late matter so much that it becomes a parliamentary debate?
Because when students show up and there are no textbooks—digital or paper—it signals something broken at the foundation. It's not just inconvenience. It's a signal that the system isn't organized enough to do the basic work.
The government says dropout rates fell from 27 to under 20 percent. Isn't that real progress?
It is. That's measurable and significant. But it doesn't answer why some students still have nothing to read in September. Progress in one metric doesn't mean the whole system is working.
What's the teacher shortage really about?
In the Azores, you're spread across islands. Teachers don't want to move there. The government hasn't solved the incentive problem. It's structural, not just a hiring issue.
The digital textbook program—is that a real failure or just political theater?
It's both. The government spent European recovery money on it, but the rollout failed. And the Left Bloc argues it was the wrong solution to begin with—they wanted that money spent differently.
What does a 12.1 million euro budget cut mean for next year?
That's the question nobody answered in that chamber. If you're already struggling to staff schools and fix buildings, cutting the education budget seems to move in the wrong direction. It's a contradiction nobody resolved.
So who's right—the government or the opposition?
They're both describing the same broken system from different angles. The government is doing some things better. The opposition is right that basic operations still fail. Both can be true.