Azorean schools improve positions in national rankings, says Sofia Ribeiro - Communication

Secretaria Regional da Educação, Cultura e Desporto

The Regional Secretary for Education, Culture and Sport, Sofia Ribeiro, emphasised the "good results" achieved by Azorean schools in the national rankings released today.

The Velas Basic Education and Secondary School, in São Jorge, was the best school in the Azores, coming 90th out of about 600 public and private schools in the national secondary schools ranking for the 2023/2024 national exams.

In basic education, Colégio do Castanheiro, in São Miguel, stood out as the best school in the Region.

The data presented are part of a ranking compiled by the Público newspaper and the Catholic University of Portugal, which takes into account the results of secondary school exams and 9th-grade assessment exams in all the country's schools.

The Secretary for Education noted that "there are several rankings drawn up by various entities" that, having used "different criteria," present "different results, placing the same school in different positions on the various rankings lists."

She recalled that the "satisfactory" results "met" expectations, "considering the results of the national exams" last school year, "in which 10 subjects had already registered higher averages than the national ones, including Portuguese and Math - A."

Sofia Ribeiro noted the results achieved in Geography A, in which the Tomás de Borba Basic Education and Secondary School in Terceira reached 15th place nationally, making it the 10th best public school in the country in this subject.

As for Portuguese, Velas Basic Education and Secondary School ranked 35th among all public and private schools nationwide, being 12th when only public schools were considered, while the previous year the Region's top school ranked 101st.

"We have targeted work with schools regarding students at risk of dropping out and in vulnerable social situations, with a strong investment in the EPIS programme, aimed at students with difficulties," stressed Sofia Ribeiro.