Lisbon, Oct. 6, 2026 (Lusa) - The minister for state reform, Gonçalo Matias, said on Tuesday that the reform of the Ministry of Education had been «very successful» and that the difficulties with the examinations «were not the result of the organisational reform», but «of the digital transition».

The minister, speaking before the Parliamentary Committee on State Reform and Local Government, said the team had identified all the difficulties and that these «will be avoided next year».

«The Ministry of Education has carried out a very successful reform, with clear efficiency gains, which is being monitored by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development),» said Gonçalo Matias.

Still on the subject of the Ministry of Education, the minister noted that the new criminal records check system had enabled the identification of 60 teachers with criminal records «who are no longer teaching».

«60 teachers who had criminal records, who should no longer be teaching in our schools, and who were detected because this reform was carried out and because the technology was introduced,» he said.

The minister also said that this technology saves «around €2 million in time that headteachers would otherwise have had to spend checking criminal records».

In the field of artificial intelligence (AI), Gonçalo Matias said that, within the framework of the European gigafactory, Portugal will have «every guarantee» of data protection, including the physical separation of the state's ‘chips' from other machines.

«I give you every assurance; we are drawing up a strong contract, a robust contract, a contract that says we will remain untouched – look, if you like, even the physical separation of our machines from the others and a guarantee that they will remain secure,» he said.

AJR/ADB // ADB.

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