The demonstration promoted by the Angolan Students Movement (MEA) was attended by students from public higher education institutions, who deplored the interruption of classes, some teachers and was monitored by the national police.
"Studying is a right, not a favor", "education is not the enemy of politics", "João Lourenço, assists teachers" and "valuing the teacher is paying good salaries" were some of the phrases stamped on the posters they held.
The march, which began at 1:00 pm in the Santa Ana Cemetery square, covered the length of Deolinda Rodrigues Avenue and ended in the 1st May square, next to the statue of the first president, António Agostinho Neto.
Marked by several stops along the way, with chants and slogans that called for the dismissal of the Minister of Higher Education and the intervention of the President, João Lourenço.
Two strands of national police personnel, between public order agents and the cavalry brigade, closely followed the students' march until its completion.
"We must always show solidarity with our teachers, they are very hardworking people and sacrifice themselves every day and many of them travel on foot and by taxi with us", said student Donito Carlos, in statements to Lusa.
The history student at the Higher Institute of Education Sciences of Luanda, assigned to the Agostinho Neto University (UAN) also praised the "republican attitude" of the police officers during the demonstration, giving a "positive note" to their performance.
Adriano Gonçalves, UAN's Higher Institute of Health Sciences, also responded in the affirmative to the MEA's appeal, and participated in the march to offer solidarity to teachers, regretting, however, the lack of classes for more than a month.
"It's been a month and so far, for us students, it's embarrassing," he lamented.
Salary increases, better working conditions and payment of public debt are some of the reasons for the strike, "indefinitely", by Angolan university professors, which began on January 3, 2022.
The secretary general of the Higher Education Teachers Union, Eduardo Peres Alberto, recently lamented to Lusa the "lack of concrete answers" from the Ministry of Higher Education on his claims.
For Orlando Sebastião, a student at the Higher Institute of Health Sciences at UAN, the demonstration aimed to alert the Angolan Government to the need to "address the demands of teachers", having also applauded the "republican action" of the police.
The "lack of teachers" in public higher education institutions "is worrying", according to Nsamba Antonica Francisco, Faculty of Humanities at UAN, who joined the march to "draw the attention" of the Minister of Higher Education on the situation of teachers .
"We are here to fight for teachers' rights," she said.
A manifesto in favor of returning to classes in public higher education institutions was presented at the end of the march by Albina Joaquina, a member of the MEA's national secretariat for Higher Education, who "deplored" the situation of teachers.
"Unfortunately, we need to remind the State that the teacher is not an animal and it is the State's obligation to watch over the education of its citizens (...). In a state that claims to be governed by law and democratic, we understand that this strike is affecting students at a time that the UAN chemistry course has only one teacher", he stressed.
The strike by Angolan university professors enters for another week, at a time when the last round of negotiations failed due to the fact that the minister of the sector "did not present a salary counter-proposal for professors", according to Eduardo Peres Alberto.
