The Regional Secretary for Education, Science and Culture, Luiz Fagundes Duarte, assured that 102 of 136 teaching vacancies will be open "soon" for the regional teacher application. They will meet the teaching staff needs of regional schools in the current school year.

According to Luiz Fagundes Duarte, the Regional Government awaits the approval of the rules by the Legislative Assembly in order to open the special application, as it was previously done in the first special application for 34 teaching vacancies at the Água de Pau and Ponta Garça Basic Education Schools on São Miguel and Ferreira Drummond Basic Education School on Terceira.

Speaking at the Legislative Assembly in Horta, the Regional Secretary explained that "the 136 available vacancies for the teacher application are the result of the survey of 122 vacancies that have been temporarily filled by hired teachers over the last three years; the remaining 14 vacancies are open due to the retirement of teachers or transfer of teachers to the staff of schools outside the Region."

"Given the fluctuations in the number of students and the teachers who left the regional staff permanently, the Government will open special teaching applications in 2015 and 2016. In the latter year, the Government will open the regular application, which will be held every four years," added the Regional Secretary.

According to Luiz Fagundes Duarte, the distribution of 102 teaching vacancies in the archipelago, except the island of Corvo, will be the following: 7 for elementary school, 17 for middle school, 44 for junior high school and secondary school, 22 for special education and the remaining 12 for artistic education.

"Once this process is concluded, the permanent needs of the education system will be fulfilled," said the Regional Secretary.

Luiz Fagundes Duarte stressed that "teachers play a key role in public education," but recalled that "the public education system exists because of students."

"We can never employ the 5,000 teachers who have applied for the first special teaching application that took place this year; there were only 34 vacancies to be filled," said the government official.