Teachers complain about worsening conditions and injustices and admit to leaving EPL before the end of the school year because the situation has become "unviable".
"After months of ignored demands and unfulfilled promises, these teachers have reached the limit of their patience" and have started a strike "which directly affects the normal functioning of the institution and compromises the stability of the teaching provided", reads the question that the socialists asked the Portuguese Minister of Education, Science and Innovation.
The PS says that these teachers "continue to face unacceptable inequalities in relation to teachers in statutory mobility", such as "insufficient net salaries to cover basic expenses, aggravated by high local taxation and the constant increase in the cost of living in Angola" or the "absence of a subsidy to support the cost of living, fundamental in a country where inflation exceeds 40 percent".
"The lack of adequate health insurance, leaving teachers exposed to high costs in the private sector" and the "impossibility of enjoying an annual trip to Portugal, unlike teachers on statutory mobility", as well as the "lack of exemption from tuition fees for their children, creating a situation of inequality within the institution itself" are other complaints from teachers highlighted by the socialists.
In the letter, the PS questions the Portuguese Government about the "urgent measures" it intends to adopt and whether it is available to "review the pay conditions of these teachers, ensuring them a net salary that is appropriate to the cost of living in Angola".
The PS also wants to know whether a cost-of-living subsidy and adequate health insurance will be implemented for these teachers, as well as the granting of exemption from tuition fees for the children of these teachers and the guarantee of the right to an annual trip to Portugal.
The EPL, created in the 1980s, was until 2021 administered by the Portuguese Teaching Cooperative in Angola (CPEA), but, as of September 7, 2021, it began to be administered by the Portuguese Ministry of Education, after a dispute with some cooperative members.
