Maputo, 22 Apr (AIM) – Mozambique’s National Teachers’ Association (ANAPRO) has threatened to boycott lessons and go on strike as from Friday, if the government does not pay them months of overtime which they claim are in arrears.
The teachers expressed their dissatisfaction after the Prime Minister, Adriano Maleiane, claimed last week, recently at the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of Republic, the Mozambican Parliament, that over 70 percent of the debt concerning overtime has already been paid to the teachers.
According to the president of ANAPRO, Isac Marrengula, who was speaking to reporters on Saturday, the Prime Minister lied in his statements, since only two of the 13 months owing have been paid, which corresponds to just 30 percent of the debt.
“We’ve heard a lie”, he declared. “So this makes us increasingly frustrated. Just to give you an example, of the districts in Gaza province, only three have been paid. Now, what is this 70 percent that the Prime Minister is referring to?”
It means, he said, that overtime has only been paid for two months in some schools.
Marrengula warned that the government has six days to pay the money it owes to the teachers and resolve all their concerns.
“If the government doesn’t make a statement by next Friday, and doesn’t make the proper payment, we’ll have no alternative but to call a nationwide stoppage of classes”, he said.
At the occasion, the teachers also claimed to be victims of intimidation and death threats for just demanding their rights.
“When we demonstrate for our rights, we are mistreated and expelled from work. In some cases, we receive death threats for demanding our rights. Now, if the Constitution allows us to demonstrate and we can’t, what should we do?”, Marrengula asked.
The teachers in the Mozambican National Education System are also threatening not to work with classes of over 100 pupils, since overcrowding has been harming the quality of education.
(AIM)
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