Ei-iE

Unions across West Africa have had a busy first half of 2009 working on the EFAIDS Programme, and have been particularly active in the area of training and publications.

World AIDS Day may be several months away but teacher unions are eager to start preparing their activities. For many students school is a valuable, and sometimes the only source, of accurate information on HIV and AIDS.

People living with HIV are feeling the effects of the global economic crisis as governments around the world cut spending on treatment. According to Miguel D’EScoto President of the UN General Assembly, “many governments are resigned to reducing programmes and diminished expectations”.

Astrid McDonald of Bond van Leraren (BvL) shares insights into the work of the EI EFAIDS Programme in Suriname.

The Ceylon Tamil Teachers’ Union (CTTU) submitted a report to the Sri Lankan minister of education, Hon Susil Prema Jeyanth, expressing its concerns about teachers and pupils currently living in refugee camps in the Vanni region, located in the northern part of the country.

Trade unions worldwide continue to protest at the continued harassment, random judicial proceedings and detention of members and leaders of the teacher union Egitim Sen and Confederation of Public Employees’ Trade Unions (KESK).

Two Liberian teacher unions ALPO (All Liberian Professional Organisation) and NTAL (National Teachers Association of Liberia) have launched a community based project to construct adequate housing in rural areas for teachers.

Escalating violence in Honduras against those protesting the military coup of 28 June has left two teachers dead: Roger Abraham Vallejo and Martín Florencio Rivera.

Girls in exquisite golden headdresses and traditional costumes of green and black brocade tossed pink flower blossoms as they danced to welcome visitors to the closing ceremony of Education International’s post-tsunami project in Aceh, the region of northern Sumatra most devastated by the cataclysmic tsunami of 26 December 2004.

The University and College Union (UCU) said today that universities must be allowed to play their full part in helping lift the country out of recession.

EI member organisation Te Riu Roa New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) has released two new videos for their members in the primary education sector.

EI’s largest affiliates in Zimbabwe – the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) and the Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) – were sharply critical of the salary increase for civil servants announced last week by the government.

India has passed a landmark bill providing for free and compulsory education to all children aged 6 to 14. In a vote held 20 July, the Rajya Sabha, India’s upper House of Parliament, gave unanimous approval to The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill.

Teachers and their unions should "be the engines of real change in education," Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, told thousands of educators meeting in Washington, D.C. from 13-15 July.

A joint publication of EI and the University and College Union of the UK, this study highlights constraints on academic freedom in five countries: Burma, Colombia, Israel, Palestine and Zimbabwe.

It is not easy to have a constructive dialogue when the speakers do not hear one another. The result usually is confrontation, conflict and failure to conclude agreements.

Education International contributed extensively to the World Conference on Higher Education which took place at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris from 5-8 July 2009.

EI, together with close to 40 representatives from EI-affiliated higher education unions, has been actively participating in the UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education in Paris which started on 5 July with EI’s Vice-President Irene Duncan Adanusa intervening in one of the opening sessions.