Europe
EI-Central Asia Consortium project in Tajikistan
From 3-5 August, a basic level workshop was held for primary level leaders in Khujand. Attendees discussed the role of teachers’ unions in a market economy, analysed Tajikistan’s education system, and outlined challenges facing education in Tajikistan and possible solutions. They also learned about leadership, Education for All and SDGs, and developed individual plans to be implemented at school level.
From 7-9 August, a workshop on child labour in Kurgan-Tyube was attended by participants from districts plagued with child labour issues, where children are engaged in cotton picking, brick laying in construction sites, pushing carts at markets, and in vegetable farming.
From 21-23 August, a workshop on gender equality was held in Kurgan-Tyube. Tajikistan’s membership of the UN Commission on the Status of Women for 2014-18 boosted participants’ interest in mobilising in their workplaces to eliminate and eradicate prevailing prejudices and discrimination against women.
From 24-26 August, a basic level workshop in Tursunzoda explored the role of school committee chairpersons.
Condolences for victims of earthquake in Italy
EI/European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) expressed deep sorrow and condolences for the significant loss of life during the earthquake in central Italy on 24 August. Many children were among the 290 people killed. The ETUCE showed solidarity towards its Italian member organisations, which promptly reacted to protect teachers and education employees and ensure education to all students in the affected area, given the approaching new school term.
Investing in Education seminar on the European Semester
On 5-6 September, ETUCE member organisations from the Nordic, Baltic and Anglo-Saxon European regions met in Vilnius, Lithuania, for the second training seminar on “Investing in Education: Strengthening the involvement of teacher trade unions in the European Semester on education and training”. Participants learned about the impact of the European system of economic governance coordination (European Semester) on education and training reforms and on the investment in education. They explored strategies to influence the European Semester from a teacher union perspective. Christine Blower, ETUCE President, and Paola Cammilli represented EI.
European Social Partnership
On 8 September, Hungarian ETUCE member organisations and representatives from Hungarian education employers’ organisations affiliated to the European Federation of Education Employers met in Budapest, facilitated by the joint European Social Partnership project on social dialogue capacity building project. They outlined the challenges of social dialogue in Hungarian education and of the Government’s failure to apply collective agreements in the education sector. They also gained a deeper understanding of the cross-sectoral social dialogue at European level, exchanged best practices with social partners in Finland, and identified ways to strengthen their links and improve communication around social dialogue at national and European levels. Paola Cammilli represented EI.
