Maputo — Teachers from Maputo city and province on Monday boycotted final exams in primary and secondary schools in protest at the alleged non-payment of the money that the government owes them for overtime work.
The last time that the teachers marched in central Maputo, as a way of pressuring the government so that it could provide good working conditions, they were attacked by Police with tear gas grenades.
However, they refused to be intimidated and they promised to boycott the final exams. Right now, the teachers are fulfilling that promise.
The final exams were scheduled to start on Monday. However, the teachers boycotted the exams and held a march, saying that they want immediate payment of three years of overtime work that the government owes them.
Carrying signs and chanting songs, the teachers from Liberdade Secondary School, in Matola municipality, said that they "will demonstrate until the money goes into our bank accounts.'
"There are promises upon promises that never materialize. So it doesn't mean that the teachers who are here are rebels, but the main thing that makes us march is our overtime. We work, but when it comes to payment, we are never paid', a teacher said.
During last month's demonstrations, teachers from the Filipe Nyusi Secondary School, in Boane Municipality, chanted anti-government songs and condemned Police violence against defenceless demonstrators.
"Tell the riot police to correct the exams', read one placard carried by a teacher.
At Unidade 2 Primary School, the teachers lamented the fact that the education sector is always making promises without honoring them.
"Therefore, we will march until they give us the money they owe us. This government destroyed the education system, we don't have good working conditions. We are facing big problems. A country can't function with a very weak education system', one teacher said.
"As long as there is no money in the accounts, there will be no exams', said another teacher.
The government and teachers have held meetings in order to discuss problems in the educational sector. But the meetings have failed to satisfy the teachers, who had hoped that the government would bring solutions to their problems.
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.
