1 — We are about to enter the month of September, and with it pupils will return to school. It is therefore incumbent upon the Regional Secretariat to assess the school year that has just ended and to set forth its objectives for the academic year now beginning.
2 — The Regional Secretary for Education, Culture and Sport, Sofia Ribeiro, has so far announced that the number of Azorean students entering higher education this year is the highest ever recorded. So far, so good; but we must also know how the new school year will be managed throughout the Region.
3 — According to this year’s figures, 1,346 students applied for admission to higher education, of whom 1,256 secured a place during the first admissions phase. Last year, by comparison, 954 candidates applied, and 913 were admitted. This represents a 38 percent increase over the number of students placed in 2025—a year that has already “yielded up its soul to its Maker.”
4 — Thus far, the figures, though carefully presented, appear to serve one of the Regional Secretary for Education’s current objectives. As she has stated, the “education policy strategy for 2030” is founded upon increasing the percentage of the Azorean population holding qualifications at the secondary or higher-education level.
5 — In view of the strategy outlined by Regional Secretary Sofia Ribeiro, we are compelled to ask how, by 2030, the Region will succeed in increasing the number of Azoreans with secondary or higher-education qualifications while simultaneously pursuing the objective of expanding and strengthening the archipelago’s population.
6 — We are approaching a period in which the Region will prepare to commemorate the six-hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the Islands. What we need are new policies capable of reaching those who left the archipelago in search of what they could not find here, determining how they might return, and establishing the conditions under which they may become part of the Azores’ future.
7 — This is an obligation of the Government of the Azores, which must invest in the return of those who departed—those who embarked without knowing what awaited them, yet succeeded abroad and acquired the means to create wealth. That knowledge, experience, and capacity are now indispensable to the Azores’ growth, particularly at a time when the Islands are suffering from a shortage of people.
8 — Moving from education and culture—which are fundamental to preparing our future—we must also consider the position of the Azores in the face of current tourist flows. Should this growth continue, it must be governed by clear regulations and by conduct appropriate to a Region that needs to safeguard its future. Consider the following:
9 — Between 21 and 26 August, the Public Security Police in the Azores detained 27 people and recorded 81 road accidents in a single week, resulting in seven injuries. The picture is profoundly troubling. Clear regulations from the Government, through the Regional Secretariat for Tourism, Mobility and Infrastructure, remain lacking.
The Azorean road network, taken as a whole, was designed and constructed fifty years ago. It was not laid out to accommodate the large and heavy vehicles that did not then exist but whose numbers have since increased unchecked and disproportionately. There is therefore no time to lose. Rules governing road traffic are urgently needed, particularly in view of the excessive number of vehicles we encounter each day and the weight of large commercial vehicles. Such transport is necessary, but it must be properly regulated. Without those regulations, we shall continue travelling according to individual inclination and personal condition rather than within a coherent system that protects us all.
Américo Natalino Viveiros, a former member of the govermnment lead by João Bosco Mota Amaral is the Director and publisher of Correio dos Açores.