The Federação Nacional de Professores (Fenprof) and the Associação Nacional Professores de Informática (Anpri) justified the strike, which could last until the end of the school year, with the fact that “IT teachers, as well as others, but in smaller numbers, are being called upon to perform tasks which are not part of the functional scope of the teaching profession”, such as the maintenance of technological equipment and technical support for digital tests.

As students have begun to carry out assessment tests in digital format, Fenprof and Anpro emphasised that “IT teachers, in addition to all the activities that are the responsibility of teaching staff, are being called upon to perform tasks that should be assigned to technical personnel, of which the schools are unable to hire”.

Teachers stressed “There are hundreds of computers that break down, given the fragility of most equipment, in many schools. From the simple screws that come loose of computer screens to countless problems which affect the equipment”.

“The moment the equipment warranty period expired. The imposition of these technical tasks worsened. Inadmissibly, in schools, these tasks are being imposed on teachers which is illegal because they do not correspond to teaching functions”, they argue.

Anpri added they have developed many initiatives to try and resolve this issue, which have been unsuccessful so far, with the same results regarding Fenprof’s efforts.

“It was decided to proceed with a strike notice for the maintenance of technological equipment and technical support for digital tests, which have been assigned to teachers, obliging them to perform tasks outside of their responsibilities”, they stated in the document.

The strike will begin on April 8 and could last until the end of the school year, “if the next team from the Ministry of Education does not solve this issue”, warned the organisations.