The Minister of Education has written a letter to non-teaching staff acknowledging that they are “essential for the proper functioning” of schools, in the week in which they announced a national strike for better working conditions and salaries.
The Minister of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI), Fernando Alexandre, wrote to school technicians, assistants and assistants, highlighting that they perform tasks “essential for the proper functioning of schools and for the educational process to function at its best.”
At the start of a new school year for around 1.3 million students from 1st to 12th grade, Fernando Alexandre acknowledges that these workers are “often the ones on the front line of supporting students”: “It is up to you to let students off steam.”
However, he argues, “there is no quality public education network without valued and motivated non-teaching staff.”
The minister believes that the work of these professionals “has not deserved recognition”, and therefore the guardianship decided to start working with the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities and with union representatives.
The aim of these meetings, he added, is to evaluate “the implementation of the decentralisation process”, “improve their working conditions” and the framework of functions.
On Thursday, unions announced a national strike in schools on October 4, which “can still be stopped by the Minister of Education,” according to the National Federation of Unions of Public and Social Service Workers.
At stake is the precarious situation of thousands of workers, who earn “little more than the minimum wage,” said union leader Artur Sequeira, explaining that among the demands are the creation of special careers and the possibility of early retirement without penalties.
The creation of a new ordinance on staff ratios to increase the number of employees in schools is another demand of the unions, who warn of the dangers for children in schools with few attendants.
Lusa today questioned the MECI office about whether it will schedule or meet with unions before the national strike on October 4, whether it is considering creating special courses, reviewing ratios and increasing the number of employees in schools, but has not yet received a response.
As has happened in recent years, the return to school is once again marked by a lack of teachers, especially in the metropolitan area of Lisbon and the Algarve, with it being estimated that thousands of students no longer have all their assigned teachers.
Source: Observadora
