Ei-iE

COVID19

In March 2020, the tropical heat was rising in Tamil Nadu, India. The teachers were in the thick of handling lesson planning, engaging with students and uploading our progress for the final term of the academic year in a buzzing school environment. The state government announced a complete lockdown in...

In Nepal, an education union has highlighted how the COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to new challenges. These include non-payment of teacher salaries by some private school employers, the psychological impact of the lockdown on students, and the challenges of online teaching.

An Education International affiliate representing elementary school teachers in India has called on the government to fundamentally shift its approach to education. The union voiced its concern over growing inequality stemming from distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Education International strongly supports its Filipino affiliate in its struggle to see educators’ human and trade union rights respected. It condemns the use of harassment methods and anti-terrorism legislation to eliminate critical legal protections.

The Australian Education Union has published a report showing a significant digital gap during the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of digital inclusion for public school students.

The Portuguese education union, Federaçao Nacional dos Professores, is concerned about teacher professional issues, inequities, lack of social dialogue, and assessment of teachers.

The number of violations of human rights is rising in Iraq since the beginning of the widespread protests of late 2019 and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Kurdistan Teachers’ union has denounced the fact that the Iraqi authorities, including in the Kurdistan region, routinely use vaguely worded laws to bring...

Education International’s affiliates in the United States have reasserted the need for public authorities to listen to the voice of educators and their professional organisations when reopening schools and education institutions, and to deliver proper funding for the education sector.

Trade unionist teachers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have called on the public authorities to respect a promise to pay “new units” teachers since April 2020.

Education unions in the UK have voiced deep concern concerning the reopening of schools and education institutions planned for September.

Education International released its publication Forward to School on 13 July. The document is based on the five pillars identified in the EI Guidance on Reopening Schools and Education Institutions released in April.

Education International's member organisation, the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF/FCE), conducted a survey in which nearly 18,000 teachers participated. It showed unease and concern about the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on the well-being of students and teachers. It exposed damage to education stemming from the dependence on distance learning, including...

On 9 July, a webinar reviewing the recently released Global Education Monitoring Report (GEM) 2020 from the perspective of teachers was co-hosted by Education International, UNESCO, the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030, and the GEM Report. The report, “Inclusion and Education: All Means All” was explained. Its...

As COVID-19 cases increased in Palestine, the General Union of Palestinian Teachers, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, led a project on e-learning. This has assumed greater significance as schools will not reopen in August as had been previously planned.

In Kenya, the Universities Academic Staff Union has taken the vice-chancellors of two universities to court over cuts in lecturers’ salaries, which had been previously suspended by a judge.

On 2 and 3 July, the National Education Association (NEA) of the United States held a virtual representative assembly with the participation of over 7,000 delegates. The theme of the assembly was “Our Democracy; Our Responsibility; Our time”.

Teachers are all scrambling onto remote learning (or distance learning, or continuous learning, or crisis learning, or the nomenclature of your area) to support and stay connected with their students during this isolating time. The unexpected nature of the events around COVID-19 and the different levels and speeds of responsiveness...