Teachers at Gil Vicente Secondary School, in Lisbon, were, this Monday, concentrated in protest in front of the school to demand respect and dignity for the profession and ask that the minister listen to the teachers. “Together for education”, “Respect” and “Dignity” were some of the slogans written on the posters that 16 teachers held in front of the Gil Vicente Secondary School.
The idea was to follow, in a human cordon, to Largo da Graça, but the teachers ended up being concentrated in front of the school, which had already closed on Friday due to the strike and closed again this Monday.
“That’s why we fight, for dignity and respect for education, which is the basic structure of a society that calls itself civilized. If a country doesn’t invest in education, it is left in its tracks”, Graciela Nunes told Lusa. A Portuguese and French teacher for over 30 years, Graciela Nunes complained above all about the excessive bureaucratic work, which prevents teachers from fully dedicating themselves to classes and working with students, but not only that.
“Education needs another investment, also in salaries. It is a Franciscan poverty and we cannot have a miserabilitist discourse”, he underlined, arguing that teachers are paid below their qualifications, one of several reasons for the unattractiveness of the profession. Another reason, he added, is the lack of support for displaced teachers.
Cristina Marcelino, a Portuguese and English teacher for three decades, also mentions the full recovery of the length of service in which careers were frozen, an old demand from professionals, as well as the end of vacancies for access to the 5th and 7th grades. levels of the teaching career, a factor that has hampered his progression. with us, and that’s what we need, for him to listen to us”, underlined the teacher.
Also in Lisbon, there were demonstrations and teachers on strike in front of the Virgílio Ferreira Secondary School in protest and the EB 2,3 Fernando Pessoa, among others. There were hundreds of schools across the country on strike.
The teachers’ strikes began on December 9. The strike, for an indefinite period, was convened by the Union of All Education Professionals (STOP), which has already delivered strike notices for the entire month of January.
Meanwhile, the Independent Union of Teachers and Educators (SIPE) has called a partial strike for the first term for the first week of classes in the 2nd period, which it decided to extend until February. Between the 16th of January and the 8th of February, a district strike was held, called by eight union structures, including SIPE and the National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof).
In addition to a set of old problems related to the teaching career and general working conditions, teachers also contest some of the proposals presented by the Ministry of Education within the scope of the negotiation process on the revision of the recruitment and placement regime, which is still ongoing.
Minister João Costa guaranteed, in Parliament, that the hiring of teachers will not be transferred to municipalities and that it will continue to be done based on professional graduation, also abandoning the intention of allowing directors to select 30% of their teachers .
Lusa/End
