Strike at USP: students decide to maintain strike – 10/11/2023 – Education

The strike started by the shortage of teachers at USP (University of São Paulo) continues. In an assembly on Wednesday night (11), the majority of students decided to maintain the strike at least until the end of next week.

“It’s not the end of the fight. We showed our strength and we will remain firm”, says Davi Bonfim, 24, one of the leaders of the mobilization. “Congratulations to everyone,” he continues.

The movement was started by students at FFLCH (Faculty of Philosophy, Literature and Human Sciences) and reached other units in the city of São Paulo. In some units, pickets and attempts were made to prevent classes from taking place.

At first, the rectory refused to negotiate with the strikers, but on the 4th it presented a list of proposals. The main one would be the hiring of 148 temporary teachers, to be distributed to the most needy courses by the end of this year.

The offer divided students. Debates took over academic centers. This week, Poli (Polytechnic School) and FEA (Faculty of Economics, Administration, Accounting and Actuarial Science) were the first to abandon the strike. Students at the Faculty of Law, in Largo de São Francisco, also ended the strike.

Teachers also approved the end of the strike. However, they reaffirmed their support for the student movement and decided that the mobilization will continue, for example, with the release of data on the loss of teachers at the university.

A Sheet showed that USP has increased, over the last two decades, the number of students enrolled without guaranteeing the same pace in hiring teachers. Thus, the ratio of teacher to student decreased by 28% in the period.

The dean of USP, Carlos Gilberto Carlotti Júnior, acknowledged that the admission of professors to the university has been very slow.

“We recognize that hiring, based on the 879 vacancies already distributed to units, has been very slow, due to several factors, including legislation for hiring public servants,” he said in a video released to the academic community.

The USP rectory said that there will be no political reprisals against the students involved in the mobilizations. However, it stated that it cannot prevent administrative and procedural measures in the case of damage to property. At ECA (School of Communication and Arts), for example, bars were torn down.