According to the president of MEA, Francisco Teixeira, directors of public schools are dismissing students, especially primary and secondary school students, who do not have textbooks, under alleged guidance from the Ministry of Education.
Speaking at a press conference in Luanda on Thursday, the official contested the authorities' position, which penalizes students, recalling that the Basic Education Law requires them to provide textbooks free of charge to students.
"Therefore, we are giving the Ministry of Education 15 days, starting today, to make a statement about the lack of books and the removal of students from classrooms due to the lack of this material. If no statement is made, we will hold several protests, starting on October 5th," he said.
Francisco Teixeira lamented that thousands of children in Angola are still outside the education system, and others study in precarious conditions, considering that the Government "has been shirking its responsibilities towards education".
"We cannot take lightly the alarming number of schools without desks for children, we cannot accept with impatience that, in the 21st century, children study in deplorable conditions", he stressed.
According to the president of the MEA, the authorities are insensitive to the improvement of the teaching and learning process in the country, stating that they prefer to make "superfluous expenses" in other sectors to the detriment of the construction of schools, with desks and school meals.
"Our public education is abandoned, thousands of students in Viana [one of the nine municipalities of Luanda] live in a state of abandonment, whose schools do not have bathrooms, in fact this is a reality in several municipalities in our country", Francisco Teixeira also criticized.
The 2024-2025 school year in Angola began on September 2 and comprises 48 weeks of classes.
