Ei-iE

A secondary school teacher convicted of “offence against the head of state” has been sentenced to two months in prison and banned from his profession after assigning his students an essay about the indiscretions of a fictional president.

Education International joins the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in calling for the immediate release of a secondary school teacher, a journalist and four editors jailed in Bamako for “offence against the head of state” after the publication of details of a school assignment.

EI asks you to join in the call for the release of three teachers; our Urgent Action Appeal is relaunched in the wake of recent events.

Mr/Madam President, distinguished delegates

Every Tuesday in Botswana a new television programme on HIV and AIDS is aired in schools across the country. This is good news for both teachers and learners.

Early in 2007, EI conducted feasibility studies in Nepal and Indonesia to look at the potential roles that the teachers' organisations based there can play in contributing towards providing Education for All and combating HIV and AIDS, within the context of the EFAIDS Programme.

The Inter Agency Task Team on Education and HIV and AIDS (IATT) is composed of UN agencies, bilateral donor agencies and civil society representatives. The group of approximately 20 members convenes twice a year to exchange views and discuss issues related to HIV, AIDS and Education. EI attended the most...

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has just published a report citing women's rights as a key factor in halting the spread of HIV.

Education International has written again to Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, following the re-arrest of Ethiopian Teachers' Association members Antene Getnet and Meqcha Mengistu along with another teacher from the south.

Samual Morales, former teacher and regional president of the Colombian Trade Union Confederation (CUT), has been released after spending 3 years in prison.

EI joins the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) in mourning the death of founder member and national treasurer MacDonald Mangauzani on 27 May. Reports suggest that he succumbed to internal injuries sustained from brutal torture while in police custody last February.

From 10 to 13 April 2007, the Free Trade Union of Education Workers (STEB) organised a national 'Training of Trainers' workshop on HIV/AIDS prevention through schools in Bujumbura (Burundi). It was supported by both EI and WHO-AFRO.

As the number of school-age children grows, so too does the need for teachers, and the need for improving the quality of education. Teachers are key actors in this process, but they are still not being sheltered from the devastating HIV and AIDS pandemic.

In March the state government of Maharashtra, India announced its intention to ban sex education in schools across the state. The Indian teachers' union AIFTO immediately condemned the move as a "retrograde step in the otherwise progressive state of Maharashtra." If the ban goes through, the state will join Karnataka,...

According to a new report published mid-April by the WHO, UNAIDS and UNICEF, access to antiretroviral therapy for people living with HIV/AIDS in low-income countries continued to grow during 2006, with more than 2 million receiving treatment in December 2006.

According to the Oxfam Briefing Paper on Paying for People, millions of people are dying, sick, or out of school because there are not enough teachers, nurses, and doctors in poor countries.

From 5-9 March 2007, a workshop on "Strengthening the Education Sector Response to School Health, Nutrition and HIV/AIDS Programmes" took place in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Of the seven teachers arrested and taken to Evin prison during a protest on 8 May, five have been released after posting bail of $30,000 each.