The Regional Secretary for Education, Science and Culture assured today in Horta that the Government of the Azores is committed to "fight against school failure."

Speaking at the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, Luiz Fagundes Duarte acknowledged that the schools results made public in national rankings "are, unfortunately, bad."

According to the Regional Secretary for Education, the scope of the problem concerning early dropout and school failure is not limited to schools. In fact, "this problem cannot be solved in the short-term," the government official acknowledged, adding that we still have "a long way ahead of us."

Luiz Fagundes Duarte revealed that the Regional Government has implemented several programmes on the field to improve school results in the medium-term.
 
These initiatives work are being carried out in coordination with schools, which are committed to solve this problem "within the reach of their resources and powers."

In addition to extending the "Fénix" project and introducing changes to the "Oportunidade" programme, the Government has created teams of teachers, who are on the ground "to support" elementary school teachers in the struggle for better results.

The support provided by these teachers will focus on the subjects of Portuguese and Mathematics and is targeted at 2nd and 4th grade teachers, specified the Regional Secretary for Education, Science and Culture.