Ei-iE

The Executive Board of Education International, the global union federation representing 30 million education personnel across 171 countries, has concluded its 37th meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, with a clear plan of action leading up to its World Congress in July 2011.

EI’s British member organisations are backing their national Trades Union Congress (TUC) call for action and will join a March for the Alternative on 26 March.

The EI Executive Board in Cape Town has condemned the murder of teacher Ilse Ivania Velásquez as a new low in an increasingly deteriorating situation in Honduras.

At the International Summit on the Teaching Profession, EI General Secretary, Fred van Leeuwen, has told participants of a "global consensus that the teaching profession is the most crucial in-school factor to achieving high quality education."

EI has begun its 4-day Executive Board meeting in Cape Town from 21-24 March.

Global Action Week is an annual campaign to raise awareness and call on governments around the world to keep their promises on the UN Millennium Development Goal of achieving Education for All.

In solidarity with teachers, students and the people of Japan, EI has established a solidarity fund to aid relief efforts after the powerful earthquake that hit the country on 11 March.

EI has condemned the suspension of higher education in Bahrain as the brutal repression of pro-democracy protesters demanding political reforms within the kingdom continues.

EI and its national affiliates, SADTU, NAPTO, and SAOU, are urging the Government of South African to sign up to the joint statement on ending violence and related human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Leaders of EI affiliates have joined their national education minister counterparts in a Summit on the Future of the Teaching Profession organised by EI, the OECD and U.S. Department of Education in New York City, from 16-17 March.

Education International has sent a message of support to its affiliate in Japan after a devastating earthquake hit the north-east of the country on 11 March, triggering a massive tsunami and causing extensive damage and loss of life.

The General Secretary, Fred van Leeuwen, has told participants who gathered at the seventh EI Research Network meeting, to press on because “without research or data on a raft of indicators, it is virtually impossible to achieve our objectives.”

Talks aimed at liberalizing the global trade in goods, agricultural products and services are once again in trouble as negotiators have been unable to bridge their differences despite an intensive week-long push to reach a solution.

While overall negotiations remain stalled, officials cited some progress in other aspects of the Doha Round, including controversial talks aimed at developing new legally-binding disciplines for domestic regulations that may affect trade.

While acknowledging that the end of year deadline to conclude the talks is extremely tight, Mexican Ambassador de Mateo was somewhat optimistic that a conclusion this year would be possible.

Republicans in the Wisconsin state senate have approved a regressive plan to strip public-sector and teacher trade unions of most of their collective bargaining rights.

Teachers and public servants from the federal states of Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, have stepped up their campaign over inadequate pay and the need to improve their professional status, by taking the decision to strike.

Participants have gathered at the EI Research Network meeting to discuss the global threats to unions from the reduction in public expenditure on education and privatisation, to testing and ranking systems that only tell part of the story.