According to the general secretary of the National Union of Teachers (Sinprof), the level of adhesion is 100%, confirming the stoppage of classes in, at least, all schools in the center of Luanda.
“The level of participation is 100%, there are really no classes”, said Admar Jinguma, noting that in the last two days there was no contact with the Ministry of Education.
“The ministry preferred to lie, as a way of demobilizing them [professores]who found out about the strike via social media, which is not true,” he added.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the ministry said it was aware of the strike through social networks and that it had already addressed 7 of the 10 points in the claim booklet, appealing to Sinprof’s “good sense” “in the sense of reviewing its position”.
Sinprof’s General Secretary, for his part, expressed openness to dialogue with the employer.
“For that very reason, we initially set out for an interpolated strike, we are open to dialogue, at any time, at any time of the day, that the Government calls, we will not hesitate, we are going there to hear what guarantees they have to get around the situation ”, he stressed.
Admar Jinguma presents another version of the response to union claims, noting that the list of demands was delivered three years ago and since then negotiations on the demands made have not advanced, namely in terms of remuneration and subsidies.
Isolation subsidies, reduction of the Labor Income Tax (IRT) and the issue of regulating mono-teaching are some of the issues included in the notebook, he said.
The trade unionist pointed out that the law gives only 21 days to negotiate a list of claims, but they have been negotiating for three years.
For the union, if the resolution of the demands depended only on the Ministry, some of the problems could already be solved.
“Due to the will that Minister Grilo has shown, perhaps we would have another approach in relation to the strike, but as these issues, especially remuneration issues depend on the cooperation of other ministerial departments, many times these are not very sensitive to these issues that we claim”, said.
With the stoppage of classes, around 11 million primary and secondary school students are affected across the country.
The Angolan Minister of Education, Luísa Grilo, on Tuesday asked general education teachers for “consideration and a vote of confidence”, guaranteeing that the executive is working to resolve their demands.
“The executive is working to respond to the concerns raised, some of which have already been resolved, others are in the process of being resolved, and so I appealed to my colleagues for some consideration, a vote of confidence, because we are working to resolve the issues. their claims,” said the minister.
Luísa Grilo, who was speaking in Zaire province, north of Angola, where she presided over the act of the National Educator’s Day, said that the body she directs has not yet received written information regarding the national teachers’ strike.
“We listened effectively, but we continued to talk with our union partners, even on Friday we met with the union to find mechanisms for permanent dialogue, on the one hand, and on the other hand, find solutions that serve both parties, but we said that we are open to dialogue”, pointed out the official.
The ministry’s communiqué says that there are only three points in the notebook being implemented, namely single teaching, school lunches and promotions, issues that involve other ministries.
As for the dignification of the teacher by valuing the length of service, the last phase is underway, which will be completed in January 2023, according to the schedule drawn up in light of the memorandum, the ministry said.
NME/RCR (DYAS) // VM