Portugal's 9th‑grade exam results show half of students fail math

The Portuguese Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI) released data from the National Exams Jury (JNE) indicating a decline in 9th‑grade exam performance. The national average in Mathematics fell to 49 points out of 100, turning the overall result from positive to negative, and 52,826 students failed the subject, representing just over half of the 96,853 candidates. About 22 pupils recorded a score of zero.

In Portuguese, the average score slipped to 55 points, still positive but three points lower than the previous year, while the share of failures rose to 40% – roughly 37,000 students. The release of the results was delayed until July 20 because of problems with the digitalisation of secondary‑school examinations, prompting the ministry to postpone the 9th‑grade grade publication to prioritise the secondary exams.