USP: rectory presents proposal to end the strike – 10/04/2023 – Education

The rectory of USP (University of São Paulo) presented this Wednesday (4) to students a proposal to end the strike in force at the institution for more than three weeks

According to the plan, 148 temporary teachers would be hired within 45 days to make up for the shortage of teachers in teaching units — the strikers’ main complaint is precisely the lack of professionals to teach.

The positions would be distributed to the faculties most in need.

In addition to these temporary teachers, the rectory announced at the beginning of 2022 a plan to hire 879 permanent teachers. Of this total, 238 vacancies have already been filled and 641 still need selection — which should take place by July 2022, according to a promise from rector Carlos Gilberto Carlotti Junior to students under negotiation this Wednesday (4).

The result of the meeting pleased the strikers. There is an indication of voting to end the boycott of classes by teachers. They meet in assembly this Thursday (5).

The students have a new general assembly scheduled only for Monday (9). In it, the end of the strike must be voted. Some students, however, say they are in favor of maintaining the strike.

“The rectory realized our strength. The strike had an effect. Our fight was effective”, says Mandi Coelho, president of the Oswald de Andrade Academic Center for Linguistic and Literary Studies, at FFLCH (Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences), who gave beginning of the current protests. She was one of the people who participated in the debate before the rector.

A new meeting between the parties was scheduled for Monday morning. Other demands, such as greater investment in student retention policy, will be on the agenda.

UNDERSTAND THE CLAIMS

Students from all USP units in the capital joined the strike started due to the lack of teachers at the institution. Now, the organizers’ intention is to expand the movement to campuses in the interior of São Paulo.

Students summarize their demands in five areas: hiring teachers; increase in student living aid; structural improvements at USP Leste; promotion of indigenous entrance exams; and valuing student rights.

The acquisition of new teachers is the most debated topic. Students present three demands at this point:

• Automatic trigger return for hiring teachers: Today, when a teacher dies, is dismissed or retires, the vacancy is not automatically replaced. Students demand feedback from this mechanism for vacancies to be answered;
• Minimum number of educators (1,683) to guarantee the functioning of the courses: this number is based on the return of the ratio of the number of students to the number of professors that USP had in 2014;
• End of the notice of excellence or merit: For students, this criterion is absolutely unfair and does not allocate new vacancies to units that need teachers.