Teachers in Rio's municipal school system continue their strike.
After three attempts at voting in an assembly that lasted about four hours, education professionals in Rio de Janeiro decided this Friday to maintain the strike until next Tuesday, when another assembly will be held; the strike has already lasted 22 days.
From Agência Brasil
Rio de Janeiro – After three attempts at voting in an assembly that lasted about four hours, education professionals in the capital of Rio de Janeiro decided today (30) to maintain the strike until next Tuesday (3). On that day, there will be another assembly. Today's meeting was marked by debates between a group that wanted to maintain the strike and another that wanted to return to teaching and to the state of strike.
This Friday, teachers completed 22 days of strike action, with 80% of the category participating, according to the State Union of Education Professionals (Sepe).
The union coordinator in the capital, Susana Gutierrez, said there had been progress in negotiations with the Rio de Janeiro city government, but stressed that the main demand, educational autonomy, has not yet been met.
"Pedagogical autonomy means that the teacher has the right to construct the school's political-pedagogical project, and to decide which methods to use. We have a single curriculum, which isn't the problem, but the way you deliver that curriculum is," Susana emphasized.
In today's edition of the Official Gazette of the Municipality of Rio, the city hall published acts that were agreed upon with the teachers' union (Sepe). Among them are the air conditioning of 130 more schools by the end of this year; the creation of a working group to define one-third of the teaching hours; and the adoption of pedagogical manuals after prior consultation with teachers. Sepe stated that the fulfilled demands were "a victory," however, "there is still much to fight for."
The Municipal Department of Education had not yet released, at the time of publication, the number of students without classes or the percentage of teachers participating in the strike.
State school teachers, who have also been on strike since August 8, are meeting in assembly to decide whether to maintain the strike. The category demands a salary readjustment of at least 16% and the guarantee of enrollment in a single school. On Tuesday (27), the state government informed, in a note, that it "shares the opinion about the guarantee of enrollment in a single school, but warns, "that, however small the number with which the opposite occurs, the change cannot be made immediately". Regarding the readjustment, it informed that it has already granted 8% to the category this year and that there is no possibility of a new increase.
Edited by: Juliana Andrade