The President of the Republic of Portugal (PR), Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, says that the country is able to meet all the demands of Portuguese teachers abroad.

The PR warned, however, that meeting the complaints is dependent on the goodwill of the current government, which, even though it is a caretaker government, is in a position to do so.

The information was provided via a video message sent to teachers in Mozambique, on the occasion of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Portuguese School of Mozambique (EPM), on the second day of the strike (Friday 28). 

Marcelo's favorable stance calls into question the statements made by the Portuguese Minister for Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel. In Dili (Macau), the Minister said he was limited by the fact that a caretaker government was now in place.

And the teachers' representative at the EPM, Antero Ribeiro, who had already spoken to the MZNewsIn new statements, he has shown himself to be a supporter of the President of the Republic's vision.

"This question [of caretaker government] no longer arises because Portugal's highest authority, Prof. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who is a constitutionalist by training, says that it is possible. Therefore, if Mr. President of the Republic says it is possible, it is certainly not this reason [caretaker government] that will prevent this issue from being resolved. It is now up to the government to fulfill what was promised, in the time it has left in office," he said.

Between March 27 and 28, teachers in Portuguese schools in Mozambique, Angola, East Timor, São Tomé and Príncipe interrupted their daily activities to protest against the inequalities between teachers in Portugal and abroad, as well as in schools abroad.

The teachers are demanding that issues such as salaries, social security contributions, health insurance and travel be settled by decree law before a new government is formed.  

O MZNews knows that the EPE teachers will resume their demands after the Easter break.

"EPE teachers will not stop their struggle until the issue is effectively resolved, and we will resume our actions very soon if there are no concrete resolutions on the issue of equity for all Portuguese teachers teaching in EPEs," he said.

For the time being, Antero Ribeiro has a positive assessment of the two-day strike in Mozambique, as they went to the Portuguese consulate in Maputo, met with the Portuguese ambassador in the country, and the students, parents and guardians showed solidarity with the teachers' cause.