According to the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), parents and guardians are facing "distress and many concerns" due to the lack of school places and infrastructure to enroll their students in the school year, which begins this Monday.
The shadow government of UNITA, in a statement on the new school year and educational rights, considers that the lack of public schools, the increase in tuition fees, school materials and student insecurity "are worsening" year after year in Angola, seeing a "symptomatic worsening of the problems" in the school year that is about to begin.
For UNITA, the current situation of the education system in Angola denotes "the inability of the Angolan executive to ensure fundamental social rights, in this case, the right to education and the inability to respond consistently" to the fundamental tasks of the State enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Angola.
"All of this has a strong impact on the country's development, as it has already been demonstrated that education is a fundamental part of the development of any country worth its salt," the political party also stressed.
UNITA also considered that the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), since independence was achieved on 11 November 1975, has shown the country that it has not yet fully understood the meaning and significance of education.
"Everything it has done in this area is essentially related to a mercantilist logic that disqualifies the role of education in the country's development process," it criticised, defending a broad reform in education in order to enable the system to train citizens for the new era, as well as an increase in the budget for education.
The 2024-2025 academic year, whose classes begin on September 2 with 1.6 million new students, was officially opened on Friday, in the province of Uige, in a ceremony presided over by the Minister of State for Social Affairs, Maria do Rosário Bragança.
