Portuguese teachers abroad complain about the refusal of guardianship, the new meeting is scheduled for September

Several teachers of Teaching Portuguese Abroad (EPE) announced this Monday in Lisbon that “many” issues affecting them have been resolved and negotiations have been resumed, with a guarantee from the tutelage that they will meet again in September.

The protest took place at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, where the eighth meeting of the Portuguese Educational Network Abroad (EPE) is taking place today, and was organized by the National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof), for which the EPE was “left in tutelage”.

Speaking to Lusa, Fenprof general secretary Mario Nogueira said there are “many” problems that EPE teachers face, “sometimes to the point of survival because their salaries are not updated in line with the cost of living in the countries where they are located.”

One of the reasons for this initiative is related to the discussion of the legal regime of the EPE, which the unions want to restore, but accuse the ministry of not moving forward.

“The EPO legal regime has been waiting for changes for years,” he said, believing that his decision could improve the situation of these teachers.

Despite an initial discussion with the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities, Paulo Cafofo, the unions complained that the talks had no impact and therefore demanded new momentum.

Mario Nogueira recalled the old Fenprof statement to transfer responsibility for EPE teachers to the Ministry of Education.

“The Camões Institute supervises the teachers, but it is considered to be a guardianship with little competence, because the Secretary of State for the Portuguese Communities determines everything that happens at the EPE level,” he pointed out.

And he continued: “We understand that, as the answer of the Portuguese state at the level of education, the Ministry of Education cannot be absent, recognizing that Camões, Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, can also play a role here, namely in matters related to the network.”

Attending the protest, which was characterized by the presentation of explanatory documents to various participants in the assembly, including Paulo Cafofo, general secretary of the Union of Teachers Abroad, Carlos Pato, reiterated the need to unblock the document, which deals with the EPE legal regime.

He observed that this regime could bring many benefits to these professors, such as the creation of an inter-ministerial staff.

Among the various issues faced by EPE faculty are, for example, being unable to bid in Portugal and receive contracts, with some faculty having up to 20 contracts, “leading to instability”.

Another demand concerns the revision of salary tables, with Carlos Pato recalling that “there is an incredible difference between the salary of a teacher in the host country and the Portuguese working there, who has to pay the same but less money.”

Before the start of the EPE network meeting, the union leaders handed over the same document to the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities, who gave his word that he would receive these unions in September, thus resuming, among other things, negotiations on the revision of the EPE legal regime.