“O school dropout fell from 13.7% to 8% in 2023, the European Union’s objective was 9% in 2030.” The statement was made by the general secretary of the PS, Pedro Nuno Santos, in this evening’s face-to-face against the president of the largest opposition party, Luís Montenegro, at a time when there are less than three weeks left until the legislative elections of 10 of March.
According to the graph that the socialist showed to support his argument, it was a comparison of the school dropout rate recorded in 2015 and in 2023. Which led the social democrat to respond, noting that this indicator “rose in 2023”.
Pedro Nuno Santos’ response was immediate: “Well, but it’s just one year, you can’t take away any trends from there. The tendency is to descent.”
It is confirmed that, as the socialist pointed out, “school dropout fell from 13.7%” in 2015 “to 8% em 2023”?
In truth, they are both right. In fact, in 2015 the early dropout rate from education and training was set at 13.7%, according to data from the National Statistics Institute (INE). In the following year, 2016, the percentage rose to 14.0%, but since then the trend