Portuguese teachers in Germany earn just over half of their German counterparts.

A Portuguese teacher in Germany earns just over half what his German counterpart with the same length of service earns, part of the “no-win situation” the Portuguese consulate in Stuttgart said this Thursday.

The situation of both Portuguese-speaking and Portuguese-speaking teachers and students in the Portuguese Language Teaching Abroad (EPE) program is “markedly deteriorating, with no attempt to correct injustice or guarantee a minimum of stability,” the teachers note in a document they delivered to the consul. General Leandro Amado.

Expressing “solidarity” with the claims of their colleagues in Portugal, EPE teachers say that in their case “the insecurity is double”, as the general secretary of the Union of Community Teachers Luciadas (SPCL) told Lusa. , Teresa Duarte Soares, and that for many “the situation is hopeless.”

The biggest problems are that they are not under the tutelage of the Ministry of Education, but of Camões, the Institute for Cooperation and Language (CICL) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MNE), which they accuse of not being ready even for dialogue. and payment of fees.

“Our employment here always depends on the number of students,” Teresa Duarte Soares explained, adding that there are now 31 teachers in Germany with approximately 2,800 students, and pointing to the extreme example of Switzerland, which this year has fewer than 500 students than last year.

EPE has seven fewer teachers worldwide this school year than last year, bringing the total to 310, according to the union.

The unreliability is also aided by the fact that these teachers come second in competitions in Portugal and that they cannot be tied “because there is no staff. Until now, the Camões Institute did not want to teach,” Teresa Duarte Soares also condemned.

Salaries are low – according to the union leader, an EPE teacher in Germany with 15 years of experience has a net salary of 2,200 euros, while with the same experience a German teacher earns an average of 4,000 euros – and there is no scale, no salary progression wages, only two groups of remuneration: one for those who have more than 15 years of experience, and the other for those with less experience.

Also, “how is a career freeze enforced where it doesn’t exist?” asks the director of SPCL, since “the Camões Institute applies a salary freeze, which means that for a teacher moving to a group of more than 15 years of service, he works 22 years.”

In the text they handed over to the Consul General and to which Luza had access, the EPE professors stationed in Germany summarize the main demands, namely wage increases and fair wages, an end to freezes and instability, job stability, the restoration of equality in national competitions and free quality education.

In December, the Assembly of the Republic rejected diplomas aimed at the free teaching of Portuguese abroad, with the Socialist Party voting against and the PSD abstaining.

The only one of the nine diplomas approved for teaching Portuguese abroad was a draft resolution recommending that the government strengthen this teaching in its various aspects and intensify the use of digital technologies to make it more attractive, interactive and adapted to modern conditions. student profile.

Incidentally, Teresa Duarte Soares told the Lusa news agency that the Camões Institute has increased its budget by 17 million euros to encourage the use of technology, and “within two years he promises that he will distribute ‘tablets’ and computers to students and teachers”, which is not happened until today.