This Friday, the Minister of Education deplored the call for strikes to start the school year, saying that students should come first and therefore the year should start “with full schools.”
“We don’t start the school year with schools closed, we have to start the school year with schools fully open,” Minister João Costa told reporters on the sidelines of the Book 2.0 meeting organized by the Portuguese Publishers Association. and “Booksellers”, which takes place at the National Museum of Cats in Lisbon.
The school year starts from September 12 to 15, and the strikes already announced by some unions hint at a year marked by opposition from teachers, like the previous one.
“I regret that in an academic year that will begin with a generation of students who survived two years of the pandemic [e após] year with some unrest, the first initiative voiced by the teachers’ union is to stop classes for two weeks,” the minister said.
João Costa was referring to the strike announced on Thursday by the Union of All Educational Workers (Stop), which called for a strike from 18 to 22 September and a national demonstration in Lisbon on 22 September.
But Stop is not the only one holding planned protests. A platform of nine teacher union organizations has already scheduled a strike for October 6, after World Teachers’ Day the previous day, as well as strikes for overtime, overtime and all non-academic activities of the institution’s right. from the first day of class.
“It’s time to focus on the students and think about whether those who protect the public school are protecting by punishing the students,” the official insisted, claiming that the Ministry of Education “never stopped negotiations.”
However, the National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof) today submitted a proposal to the guardianship body that the frozen service time be restored in stages, 798 days a year until the end of the mandate, insisting on one of the main topics that motivated the challenge of teachers, the discussion of which the government has already closed.
When asked about the proposal, João Costa again mentioned the diploma recently adopted by the President of the Republic, which allows some teachers to accelerate their careers, stressing that some can recover in two or three years.
“Now we have a very important moment – the enactment and implementation of the decree-law,” he said, noting that “all the effects will begin to appear from September.”
On the other hand, he added that the ministry will soon start new talks with industry unions to discuss initial teacher training, qualification requirements and training for teachers who have given up the profession.
João Costa also addressed the issue of teacher shortages raised this Friday by Fenprof’s general secretary, who warned of an increase in the number of students without all assigned teachers, exacerbated by the retirement of thousands more teachers by the end of the year.
In a situation less than two weeks before the start of the school year, the minister recalled that 95% of the timetables requested by schools already have teachers appointed on the basis of competitions, and many of the rest are filled in the first reserve. recruitment, the lists of which were made public today.
On the other hand, he added that many schools have already begun the process of hiring teachers, which is a last resort when hiring teachers.
“This is a problem for which we are developing measures to streamline the replacement of teachers, located mainly in certain regions and recruitment groups, and which mobilizes all our attention and all our efforts,” he stressed.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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