The spokesperson for the S.TO.P union, Daniel Martins, explained that this strike follows what was decided in Decree-Law no. 78/2025, dated May 12, and Order no. 7654/2025, dated July 8, which addressed the demands of the school framework teachers of Portuguese Schools Abroad (EPE) regarding their relocations.
In these documents, the Portuguese government assured support for the relocation of teachers, which has not yet been fulfilled, the spokesperson contextualized.
“Some Portuguese schools abroad took the initiative to make installation subsidies payments, but recently, some teachers – in Dili, Luanda, and Maputo – received a notification to return the amounts paid,” he lamented.
The strike scheduled for Tuesday at the Portuguese School of Luanda arose after the teachers of this institution held a plenary meeting on October 27, where they unanimously decided to call a strike, for an indefinite period, amid “growing indignation” over the payment of installation subsidies, explained the union on its online page.
This strike in Angola follows the one marked in Dili, in Timor-Leste, on October 30, which was suspended until Wednesday to give the Portuguese Ministry of Education time to express itself on the request for refunds of the installation subsidy paid to Portuguese teachers abroad.
“In Dili, after the announcement of the strike, the school director took the step of sending an email to colleagues saying he suspended the refund request of the ‘installation aid’ that had been sent to colleagues previously, which led to the strike,” explained the S.TO.P spokesperson.
Thus, this strike action was suspended, but it can be resumed “if the response does not align with what colleagues [in Dili] are demanding,” emphasized the union coordinator.
According to the same source, the strikes in Luanda and Maputo – the latter scheduled to start on November 6, Thursday – “are in the same vein,” meaning they decided to join the Dili strike due to the “non-payment of the installation subsidy to colleagues who entered competitions for a school framework and did not know if they would be placed,” in accordance with what the government decided in May this year.
Consequently, if by Wednesday there is no effective response from the ministry, at least the Portuguese schools in these three regions will go on strike, he reiterated.
Attempts were made to contact the Ministry of Education, but no response has been received yet.
