Luanda — The secretary-general of the Angolan National Union of Plastic Artists (UNAP), António Bastos Galiano, said last Monday in Luanda that there is still a lack of qualified teachers of plastic arts in the country.

Speaking to ANGOP, António Bastos Galiano said that most of the existing teachers have finished high school in arts and the National School for Plastic Arts has been counting them to train new artists.

"In 1970s, for example, the training in plastic and visual arts taught at Luanda's Industrial School, counted on the engagement of Angolan and Portuguese teachers with higher education degrees in fine arts. Nowadays, many things have changed due to the difficult moments that the country lived", the official underlined.

Meanwhile, the secretary-general of UNAP praised the efforts of the state in creating appropriate education infrastructures for teaching arts and hire foreign teachers to help train the new generation of artists capable to face continuous challenges in arts.

On his turn, the director general of the National Institute for Artistic Training (INFA), Francisco Van-Dúnem "Van", recognised that there is a lack of teachers with Master's and university degrees, in the National School of Plastic Arts.

Van guarantees that the state is already concerned about the situation, as some Angolan technicians are doing their higher education in fine arts, plastic arts, music, dance, theatre and cinema in Cuba, Brazil and Morocco.

The high school course in plastic arts started in 1990 with subjects like ceramic, handicraft, painting, engraving and artistic weaving.

About 33 students concluded their courses in plastic arts, among them 22 painters, five ceramic artists and four sculptors at the National School of Plastic Arts linked to INFA.