Africa-Press – Angola. Angolan students accused the Government of being “deaf” to the problems in education, “which worsen every year”, considering that there is “bad faith and malice” in solving the lack of desks, school textbooks and schools in Angola.
“The problems [in education] are the same. We are talking to the same people, the deaf, we have been talking to them [the government] for more than five years, but we will not get tired, we continue to be concerned about the growing number of children outside the education system”, said today the president of the Angolan Students Movement (MEA), Francisco Teixeira.
Speaking at a press conference about the problems and challenges of the education sector in Angola, the official lamented that there are “more than 9 million children” in the country without access to education and schools without desks, while leaders “display high-powered vehicles”.
For Francisco Teixeira, “it is not justifiable that, in the 21st century, in Angola, a country rich in natural resources”, there are still children attending classes without schoolbooks and others sitting on the floor, due to a lack of desks.
“We are also talking about the lack of books and teaching materials. So far, the State has not been able to explain where the money for books went. Last year, the State spent 5 million dollars on books and this year the same amount, but individuals diverted the books and no one can explain why,” he criticized.
“An Education Free from Political Oppression” was the motto of the press conference, which took place in Luanda.
The president of the MEA considered that education “remains hostage to politicians” and, therefore, “without any progression”.
“[Education in Angola] continues without progression, because a good part of the government understands that people have to remain illiterate so that they can continue to enslave, humiliate and trample on them and [that is] what we do not want,” he said.
Teixeira also criticized the authorities’ “silence” in the face of the student community’s outcry, which has continued year after year, guaranteeing, however, that the MEA will continue to make its voice echo: “Until the deaf hear us, until the mute start talking to us.”
He also stated that the “silence” of which they accuse the Angolan authorities is the result of “arrogance, lack of commitment and patriotism” on their part, who acquire “vehicles worth millions of kwanzas” when public schools do not have desks and teaching manuals.
“It is evil, it is bad faith on the part of this Government that does not invest in education, but we will continue to pressure for attention to be paid to education”, concluded Francisco Teixeira.
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