EPM Foundation praises IGEC probe to school

The Foundation of the Portuguese School of Macau () has praised the news that the Portuguese education authorities are investigating the dismissal of five staff members.

In a statement by the president of the Board of Directors of the foundation, Jorge Neto Valente, the EPM Foundation said this was “good news” and a way for the Portuguese authorities to appreciate the school’s situation and its problems as well as to investigate the “irregularities” that have been detected within the institution procedures and methods.

Neto Valente has said that, in reality, the probe was a request from the foundation that wanted to see a full investigation into the school’s operation and previous management.

The president of the Board of Directors insisted that the foundation was always in favor of launching a full probe of the school operations by a third party and not just an audit by the Court of Auditors of the foundation.

In the same statement, the foundation expressed concern about the timing of this procedure at a time when “preparations for the upcoming academic year have [been] finalized.” The foundation claims further that the delay from the Minister of Education, Science, and Innovation of Portugal (MECI) in approving the authorization for the new teachers’ special licenses is “starting to worry the students, parents, and EPM’s governing bodies.”

Neto Valente also said that those licenses aim to allow the teachers previously authorized to teach in Macau, last May, to replace some of those who expressed their wishes to leave the school.

The EPM Foundation also clarified that it is not trying to replace any of the four teachers and one technician whose working contracts were not renewed, since the institution dismissed them as unnecessary for the school operations.

Responding to an alleged claim of “lack of information” from the EPM Foundation on the recent polemic, Neto Valente said that EPM governing bodies have refrained from making too many comments to not “add fuel to the noise [around the issue] which is likely to harm people and jeopardize the reputation of the institution.”

The statement was issued following news that the MECI had requested the Inspectorate-General of Education and Science (IGEC) to open an investigation into the EPM, so as “to determine the circumstances in which the director [Acácio de Brito] dismissed four teachers and one senior technician.”

MECI also said that the investigation has immediate effects on the dismissal of the staff members who will stay on duty at the school, at least until the investigation is concluded.