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Education: Must do better to catch up with European peers

By Peter Wise

Published: July 13 2010 16:51 | Last updated: July 13 2010 16:51

Rui breaks a chocolate bar into eight equal pieces and eats a quarter of it. How many pieces does he eat?

According to the Portuguese Mathematics Society (SPM), this question from the national exam that 12-year-olds sat in June is evidence that the arithmetical demands being made on the country’s schoolchildren are often undemanding.

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