Ei-iE

The board of the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) met at the head office of Education International in Brussels, 26-27 January.

EI member organisations from Germany, Austria, Poland and Israel are coming together in a two-day event to remember the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the World War II Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz.

Teacher unionists in the Dominican Republic are doing their utmost to bring water, food and medicine into the border zone as Haitian refugees flee Port-au-Prince in search of humanitarian relief.

A dozen nurses, paramedics and other health professionals affiliated to the American Federation of Teachers left for Haiti on 20 January to provide much-needed medical assistance for the victims of the devastating earthquake.

Education International stands with UNESCO in its urgent call to action for the international community to invest in sustained aid to provide quality education for the most marginalized and poorest learners worldwide.

EI is happy to report that two more leaders of its Haitian affiliate are confirmed to have survived the massive earthquake that devastated the capital Port-au-Prince last week.

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.