Portugal secondary school exams see high absenteeism on first day of special period

The majority of students registered for the first day of the special secondary school exam period failed to attend, according to data released by the Ministry of Education. Out of 11,693 registered students, only 4,920 appeared for the exams.

The special period was established to ensure students were not disadvantaged by previous issues regarding electronic grading and the disclosure of first-phase exam results. In the Portuguese exam, which had the highest number of registrants (9,492), only 40.4% of students attended, meaning 5,661 were absent. Attendance rates for other subjects were also low, with 50.9% attending for Economics A and 43.1% for History of Culture and the Arts.

More than 43,000 students registered for this special period, which concludes next Tuesday. These exam results allow students to apply for the second phase of the National Access Contest to Higher Education, with applications closing on September 20.