Without classes for almost two months, students marched today, Saturday, to press for a return to negotiations. The Minister of Education rules out canceling the school year, but the teachers' union maintains its demands.

The strike launched on February 27 by the Angolan Higher Education Teachers' Union (SINPES) has the student community worried about the consequences of the stoppage.

To put pressure on the government authorities, the Movement of Angolan Students (MEA) has scheduled street demonstrations for today in favor of the union and the government returning to the negotiating table.

"We're going to carry out a series of street actions to get the situation resolved," student leader Francisco Teixeira told DW. "We're going to start now on April 15th, Saturday. We're going to start with protests and we ask all students and interested parties to be present, because we need to rescue education from the hands of the crooks, from the hands of the merchants," he said.

The tug-of-war between the National Union of Higher Education Teachers and the Ministry of Higher Education, Technology and Innovation has been going on for so long that the government is considering alternative solutions.

A few days ago, the Angolan Minister for Higher Education, Technology and Innovation, Maria Bragança, made it known that her department is devising strategies to mobilize teachers who have not joined the strike so that they can continue teaching.

The minister says that the cancellation of the 2022/2023 academic year in higher education is out of the question: "There is no administrative passage and the institutions have to do everything they can, with the teachers who are available, to make the best possible use of the students. The government has responsibilities," he said, adding that, "since the right to strike is a right of all citizens, we cannot prevent participation in the strike."

For student leader Francisco Teixeira, what the government is doing is indicative of the contempt with which the authorities look at public higher education.

"Firstly, it doesn't directly affect those in power, because it's for the most deprived section of society, which is the poor," he said.

"The political elite is not involved in this situation. The elite students, the privileged ones, are 'in Europe' and in private universities in Angola. There are no children of ministers, government officials or administrators in this situation. That's why the government lacks interest in resolving this situation," he criticized.

De-registration

Due to alleged irregularities, the Ministry of Higher Education recently annulled the enrollment of around 13,000 students who had attended classes at these higher education institutions without having taken the required entrance exams.

For Francisco Teixeira, from the MEA, the Ministry's measure comes too late and penalizes students who have nothing to do with the decision of the institutions that opted not to hold exams for higher education candidates.

"The Ministry has an inspection department, which shouldn't arrive six months after the start of the school year and unilaterally, without talking to anyone, cut off students' access to education, as if it were a military unit," he argues.

In February, the teachers resumed their strike for an indefinite period because there was no agreement on points that the union members considered to be fractious, such as basic salaries and health insurance.

Source: DW Africa