African teacher leaders: "World Bank undermines teaching profession"
Leaders of African teachers' organizations will engage their members in a global campaign for quality education to be launched by Education International in September 2013. During a meeting of EI's African Regional Committee on 25-27 March in Accra, they endorsed the campaign plans recently adopted by the EI Executive Board.
Serious concerns were expressed about falling education standards as a result of shrinking education budgets. In a growing number of jurisdictions, private school systems emerge which cater exclusively for the educational needs of the country's elite. In Malawi, for example, the Head of State herself is now the owner of such a private school. Last month public school students rallied in front of that school protesting against the neglect of the country's public schools.
Several leaders voiced strong criticism against the World Bank, which continues to support the employment of volunteers and unqualified teachers in the public school systems. "Our members are outraged at the World Bank's suggestion that volunteers would perform better than qualified teachers. The Bank is simply looking for cheap solutions, undermining the teaching profession and in so doing putting education standards at risk," according to one of participants.
The Regional Committee, chaired by Eulalie Nibizi of the Burundi Teachers' Union, also discussed regional activities in the coming year. The Committee welcomed plans to extend the Early Childhood Education programmes. The Committee also addressed the challenge of fragmentation of the teacher movement in a number of African countries, where in the past fifteen years many new teachers organisations have been established – often the result of splits in the existing unions.
The General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation's regional organisation in Africa, Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, who spoke to the regional committee meeting, also stressed the importance of more trade union unity on the continent, inviting African teachers’ organizations to join the national labour centres to gain more clout and unity.
