Mathematics teacher tried for 30 years of teaching with false certificates
Paula Pinto Pereira worked for more than three decades without genuine qualifications, forging diplomas and a master's degree certificate. She was expelled from teaching in 2023 and now faces trial.
Bogus teacher with 30-year career to answer in court for forged documents
Paula Pinto Pereira is to stand trial for having worked as a Mathematics teacher for more than 30 years with forged qualification certificates and without completing any higher education course. The case, revealed by Correio da Manhã, resulted in the teacher's expulsion from public education in 2023 and in a formal accusation about ten months ago.
The defendant attempted to halt the proceedings by opening the investigation phase, without success.
First forged certificate dates to 1988
According to the Public Prosecution Service, Paula Pinto Pereira began teaching as a temporary teacher in the 1980s whilst attending a Mathematics course at the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Lisbon. Before that course, she was enrolled at the University of Coimbra, where she failed several subjects, according to the charge.
The first forged document was presented in 1988 at Barreiro Secondary School. At that time, the defendant had "only completed three subjects," but the certificate indicated the completion of 12, also adding the acquisition of a degree with a mark of 15. The following year, she began working at Daniel Sampaio Secondary School in Costa da Caparica, where she remained until discovered.
Fictitious master's degree ensured career progression and higher salary
To advance her career, the defendant also forged a master's degree certificate purportedly awarded by the University of Madeira, with a mark of 18. Following this document, Paula Pinto Pereira began earning a net monthly salary of two thousand euros and benefited from a four-year advancement in her teaching career.
Despite never having completed a higher education course, the bogus teacher wrote Mathematics textbooks, served as class director, internship supervisor and co-ordinator of the curriculum plan for the school group she belonged to, according to information cited by the newspaper Público.
Public Prosecution Service accused her of "deceiving the educational system"
The Public Prosecution Service held that the defendant acted with the aim of "deceiving the educational system and public administration". The authorities even demanded that Paula Pinto Pereira repay more than 355,000 euros — a sum corresponding to the difference between what she received and what she would have earned without the forgeries. The Supreme Administrative Court, however, did not authorise this demand.
The defendant maintains that she forged no qualifications and attributes the inconsistencies to disorganisation at the educational establishments she attended.
Source: Correio da Manhã