The Minister of Education, Science, and Innovation, Fernando Alexandre, recognized today the difficulties in hiring teachers for Portuguese educational institutions in Macau due to changes in residence permits and, as he stated, better working conditions in Portugal.
“We obviously want it to be possible to streamline these situations to guarantee the necessary human resources for the normal functioning of the school year. As this promotion of the connection between Portugal and China is indeed of mutual interest, I hope there is that availability,” he declared.
Since August 2023, Macau has not accepted new residence applications from Portuguese citizens for the “exercise of specialized technical functions,” allowing only justifications based on family reunification or a previous connection to the territory.
The new guidelines eliminate a practice established after the transition of Macau in 1999. As a result of these changes, the number of Portuguese citizens becoming residents of Macau dropped from 70 in 2023 to 23 last year, far below the record high of 390 recorded in 2013, according to data provided to Lusa by the Identification Services Bureau.
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The director of the Portuguese Institute of the Orient (IPOR) told Lusa that the restrictions imposed by Macau on residence applications have driven away teachers who were interested in coming to work in the Chinese region, concerns also highlighted by other Portuguese educational institutions in the territory.
The Portuguese School of Macau has recorded continuous growth in demand, with more than 800 students enrolled, which has placed pressure on the hiring of teachers and led to requests for the relaxation of local residency and hiring rules.
The minister recognized the existence of restrictions linked to the establishment of residency for Portuguese teachers in Macau and announced that the topic will be addressed with the region’s Chief Executive, Sam Hou Fai, in a meeting scheduled for today.
Fernando Alexandre is currently in Macau for the official ceremonies of June 10th, Day of Portugal, Camões, and the Portuguese Communities, leaving for Beijing on the 11th.
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The minister stressed that he held contacts with the director of the Portuguese School of Macau, Acácio de Brito, and with the president of the Portuguese School of Macau Foundation, Jorge Neto Valente, to ensure that the increase in the number of students is accompanied by the reinforcement of the teaching staff.
“On the part of the Portuguese Government, there will be full availability to authorize the mobility requests that were solicited,” he stated. Fernando Alexandre admitted, however, that the improvement of conditions in Portugal has also made it “more difficult to attract teachers” to schools outside the country.
“Today the situation in Portugal has improved significantly and it is probably also more difficult to attract teachers, but those are individual decisions,” he said, adding that the Portuguese executive will continue to support the teaching of Portuguese in Macau, both for Portuguese and Chinese families.
On September 10th of last year, the Portuguese Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, said that “things will be on track” regarding a solution to the restrictions on the residence of Portuguese citizens in Macau. Montenegro was speaking during an official visit to China and Japan, which included a stop in Macau and a meeting with the leader of the government of the semi-autonomous Chinese region.
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The Prime Minister and Sam Hou Fai met again in April, in Lisbon, but the visit yielded no new updates regarding the restrictions on the residence of Portuguese citizens in Macau.
Local educational institutions continue to hope for a bureaucratic breakthrough that will allow them to adequately fill their staffing shortages before the start of the next academic term. Meanwhile, the Portuguese government maintains its diplomatic efforts to preserve the historical and cultural ties that connect the European nation to the administrative region.
