About a hundred teachers from the municipality of Torres Vedras, in the Lisbon district, were at a vigil this Monday morning in front of the City Hall, whose president joined the solidarity protest.
The teachers displayed banners that said “a teacher also teaches to fight”, “being a teacher is for the strong” or “those who teach to fly cannot crawl”.
Other billboards read “Those who do not respect public schools do not guarantee the future of a country” or “for a suprapartisan national pact for education.”
Mónica Nunes, a Mathematics and Science teacher at Escola EB 2.3 Padre Francisco Soares, with 20 years of service, complained to the Lusa news agency of “being stuck at the same pace for several years”, asking for the improvement of conditions of work, namely the return of frozen service time and a fairer evaluation system.
From the same school, João Bento joined, a Special Education teacher with 20 years of service, who is against the “Successive Broken Promises” by claims of 20 years ago and the strategies of the Government of “misleading complaints”.
The teacher is against the lack of salary increases, the freezing of years of service, the evaluation system, the precariousness of the class, the massification of classes and the municipalization of placement contests.
Elisabete Sobral, a kindergarten teacher for 33 years, shares the same concerns and fights for frozen service time reset and for greater fairness in the evaluation system, the same reasons as Maria João Gonçalves, a primary school teacher for 23 years, both located in São Mamede da Ventosa.
Ana Rodeia, a Physical Education teacher for 40 years, a teacher at Escola EB 2.3 Padre Vítor Melícias, also attended the vigil because she considered that “teachers are tired” and “education has to be above politics party and build consensus.
On the verge of retirement, he sympathized with his younger colleagues as “teachers and students are suffering because are surviving” due to “structural problems that have existed for years”, that need “substantive answers” and suprapartisans.
The mayoress of Torres Vedras, Laura Rodrigues (PS), joined the protesters to “draw attention to the importance that education has for society”, arguing that “it must be at the center of public policies”, she told the agency lusa
“Teachers are extraordinarily important educational agents and society has to invest in its teachers so that they feel respected”, he added.
Several union organizations begin this Monday an 18-day strike by districts, until February 8.
The strike began this Monday in Lisbon, with a marked concentration in Praça do Rossio, in Lisbon, and a national demonstration scheduled for February 11.
The protest action is added to others that are taking place, one organized by the Independent Union of Teachers and Educators (SIPE), in which partial strikes are carried out, and another by the Union of All Education Professionals (STOP). , which scheduled indefinite strikes. since December 9.
Source: Observadora
