Teachers camped near the AR accuse the government of “putting the school to sleep on the street”.

About three dozen teachers and school workers camped in front of the Assembly of the Republic to protest the poor working conditions, accusing the government of “putting the school to sleep on the street.”

The national demonstration, organized on Saturday by the Union of All Educational Professionals (STOP), ended with a picket in front of Parliament, where 18 tents were still standing this Monday.

In one of these tents is Carlos Teixeira, who has traded the comforts of his home in Guimarães, where he teaches physical chemistry, for the Portuguese sidewalk where he has slept for the last two nights.

“I’m a little cold because I didn’t want to be too heavy, so I brought some,” he told Luce, showing his almost empty “T0”, where only a bunch of sheets stand out: “These are tests. my students from the 8th and 9th courses. I brought it to the correction, but so far I have only time to correct the top five,” he explained.

For the professor, correcting the tests in the tent “is not a problem.

This is one of the reasons why Carlos Teixeira took part in the protest, as well as the professional instability of those who cannot work or teach away from home.

“What happens in the life of a teacher when he has to coordinate with his family who is 200 kilometers away?” asked the 49-year-old teacher, who has devoted more than half of his life to teaching.

Rute Ribeiro is one such case. After being placed in two schools in the same year and coming to “sleep in the car”, she felt it was time for a more stable life, and at the age of 40 she applied to Lisbon.

She traded her house in Porto for a school in the capital, where she discovered that her salary of just over a thousand euros did not allow her to pay for an apartment in Lisbon on her own. For years, he shared rooms with strangers and shared bathrooms while paying off a loan for a house in Porto.

Now that her husband is in Lisbon, teaching a few hours a week for 800 euros, they managed to find a house: “We rented an apartment on the outskirts of Lisbon for 700 euros, because next to our work it is completely impossible for me, there are hundreds and hundreds displaced colleagues,” he said.

Rute Ribeiro is the face of one of the problems faced by fired teachers, which has become a demand from unions and even school principals who ask for a relocation subsidy from those away from home, similar to what happens in other professions. .

The lack of response from the guardianship led teacher Secundária Fonseca Benevides to also take part in this protest, despite the fact that she now continues to work from her tent set up in front of Parliament, where messages such as “The school sleeps in the street, the government should blame “it’s yours”.

Before talking to Lusa, she was sitting at the computer with a student: “He is a dancer and since he is in Monaco, he sent me his notebook online,” the philosophy teacher said.

According to STOP national coordinator André Pestana, the vigil, which began on Saturday, had fewer participants this Monday because many had to be in schools.

“Minimum services are being held that are getting more and more maximal and forcing teachers and non-teachers into schools, depriving them of their right to strike,” he told Luce, acknowledging that the vigil is physically demanding due to the low temperatures.

“It was another hard night, but not as hard as [a vida dos] operational assistants who, after 10, 20 or 30 years of service, receive 700 euros or thousands and thousands of teachers who have been robbed of more than six years of service,” stressed André Pestana.

Carla Figueiredo is one of the operational assistants who camped in front of the parliament building. At the age of 58, a school bar employee in Albufeira takes home less than 650 euros at the end of the month.

“The salary is 761 euros, and with discounts about 640 euros,” he told Luza, stressing that before the increase in January, he was still paid less.

There are days in Carla Figueiredo’s house when “there is only rice and beans.”

The employee says that she is already “accustomed to living small”, but would like to talk to the Minister of Education: “I want to ask the Minister if he can live on 760 euros, because if he can, then he can teach.” us because he doesn’t stretch his promises,” he criticized.

Operational assistant Luse said it was her granddaughters who lent her the tent and prepared the backpack: “I am fighting for myself, for my colleagues, and also for my granddaughters who study at the University of Beja and want to be teachers,” she said.

Also Isabelle Pessoa, a teacher in Povoa do Varzim, said she was fighting for her class. A biology and geology teacher has criticized some guardianship proposals, such as the ability of school principals to place teachers with few teaching hours in two schools.

“I am from Tras os Montes, all my life I left Tras os Montes and went to Povoa to have a stable life and now the minister is going to say that I, being a teacher on the student council, will need to meet the needs of several schools, I’ll have to waste my fuel, drive my car again. I’m 47 years old, I’m not old enough to ride with this, Minister,” criticized the teacher.

Isabelle Pessoa told Lusa that during the two days of camping, the teachers were helped by people who left food and even clothes to sleep in “because it was very cold.”

While Isabelle Pessoa was talking to Lusa, a white van pulled up in front of the tents and left several boxes of tea “to warm those who are fighting,” said the van’s driver, who left without introducing himself.