Ei-iE

Following Tuesday's devastating earthquake in Haiti, EI is trying to establish contact with the colleagues of its national affiliate, the Confédération National des Enseignants d’Haïti (CNEH). While EI has received news of some colleagues, others are still unreachable. Any assistance in establishing communication with them would be greatly appreciated.

Education International has been informed that the Iranian authorities have threatened imminent execution of Kurdish activists, including teacher Farzad Kamangar and others.

Education International and its affiliates are beginning to collect information and funds in preparation for an international solidarity effort to assist members and their families in earthquake-stricken Haiti.

“We provide a clear vision for education and society, powerful arguments for investing in people, a capacity to mobilize globally, regionally, nationally and locally, and a strategy of proposition for the well-being of our communities and nations,” said EI's President Susan Hopgood at the opening of the 50th national conference...

In September 2008 representatives of IE-SCI, the alliance of Ivorian teacher unions working together on the EI EFAIDS Programme, met with the political and administrative authorities of Bondoukou and San Pedro to present the results of their research into the shortage of teachers and its impact on the education system...

Surinamese teacher unions working on the EI EFAIDS Programme have reached out to almost forty young offenders offering them training on HIV prevention and behaviour change. Catering for the needs of the different age groups, trainers from BvL, SOB and KOB facilitated two one-day workshops at the Santo Boma Reformatory...

Through their EFAIDS Programme, the Namibia National Teachers’ Union is committed to showing in a practical way that that HIV and AIDS is a workplace issue.

On January 7, the new EI office premises in Accra, Ghana, were formally opened by the Minister of Education for Ghana, in the presence of EI President Susan Hopgood, EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen and EI Deputy General Secretary Charlie Lennon.

The last teacher unionist imprisoned for his connection with the independent ETA (Ethiopia Teachers Association) in Ethiopia was released on 16 December. Meqcha Mengistu, Chairman of former ETA branch in East Gojam and EFAIDS programme coordinator, was officially pardoned after having served a three year prison term in the Kality...

The academic freedom and professional rights of higher education teaching personnel in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza are increasingly under assault as a result of the continuing political conflict in the region, according to a report released today by Education International and the Canadian Association of University Teachers.

The latest issue of EI's flagship magazine, Worlds of Education, reports on the various activities organised by affiliates on World Teachers’ Day.

The controversial Copenhagen Accord, ratified early in the hours of 19 December, is the least that the international community could have agreed in order to recognise and begin to avert the worst expected consequences of global warming.

As a Global Union, EI is committed to support the Global Labour University. The Global Labour University is created by the Global Union Research Network (GURN), comprising the ILO's Bureau for Workers' Activities (ACTRAV), the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD...

Without transformation of the global economic model, we will not be able to solve the world’s most urgent problems, including poverty and climate change, said Pavan Sukhdev, leader of the Green Economy research project within the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

As world leaders meet at COP 15 to negotiate a global agreement to avert climate catastrophe, students and teachers in Copenhagen are taking concrete steps towards making their school carbon neutral by 2015 – a full decade before their city aims to achieve carbon-neutrality.

Education International has released a review of academic literature on Vocational Education and Training (VET). In recent months, VET has started to feature more prominently in debates on education, as it is considered pivotal in the recovery from the jobs crisis.

Jafar Ebrahimi, the teacher trade unionist that was held in jail simply for trying to organise a union meeting, was freed on bail in December. However, EI remains concerned about the continued detention of Farzad Kamangar, Rasoul Bodaghi and Hashem Khastar. EI addressed a letter to the Supreme Leader Ali...

Thanks to the constant pressure of the international community, many of the detained colleagues from the former ETA (now NTA) have been released. Only one, Meqcha Mengistu, is still held captive in Kality prison in Addis Ababa.