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The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) have launched a campaign calling for increased funding and reforms in public colleges and universities. The two organisations have partnered in this campaign because a crisis for higher education means a crisis for democracy.

Education unions in the Pacific region have stepped in to support Fijian colleagues in a country devastated by two tropical cyclones in December and January.

Academic freedom is in a dire state globally, according to attendees at the recent International Further and Higher Education and Research Conference (IFHERC). Organised virtually by Education International, the conference also expressed its solidarity with harassed and imprisoned academics worldwide, especially in Myanmar and Hong Kong.

SLTU

Education International strongly condemns the military coup and the unconstitutional arrests of democratically elected leaders in Myanmar. EI also supports the civil disobedience movement and stands with its affiliate, the Myanmar Teachers’ Federation (MTF) in their general strike for freedom and democracy.

The Kurdistan Teachers’ Union (KTU) has moved forward with its programme aiming to equip educators with the necessary skills to use new teaching methods related to new technologies and remote teaching and learning.

The Federaçao Caboverdiana dos Professores (FECAP) in Cape Verde is campaigning to provide educators with sufficient tools to fight the COVID-19 outbreak and gender-based violence in education institutions.

The Myanmar Teachers’ Federation (MTF) is engaging in civil disobedience along with others to protest the military coup of Monday, 1 February. The MTF and other unions issued statements condemning the coup and called for the release of arrested political leaders.

The Afghanistan Teacher Support Association (ATSA) has mobilised to get the national government authorities to fulfil their promise to increase teachers’ salaries and grant them land for their homes.

Education International has commented on the release of the latest Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), entitled ‘Positive, High-achieving Students? What Schools and Teachers Can Do’. It has reaffirmed that teachers are and cannot be replaced by education technologies.

Education International (EI) joins the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in demanding freedom for jailed Egyptian journalist Ahmed Khalifa.

Indian education unionists have expressed grave concerns about the increase in the number of teachers affected by COVID-19 in Delhi. The unions have highlighted the need to protect educators and students’ health and safety.

To commemorate the 76th anniversary of the liberation of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz, Education International’s member organisations in Germany, Israel, and Poland organised an e-seminar on 27 January entitled “A child witness of history”.

ECE Educators Graduate in Tanzania

The National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) has urged Malaysian public authorities to ensure the health and safety of educators delivering presential teaching to public examination students. This call comes after 11 teachers were infected with COVID-19 in the eastern state of Terengganu.

In a statement released today, the International Day of Education, Education International’s General Secretary David Edwards calls for urgent and decisive action to address all the inequities COVID-19 revealed and exacerbated and to ensure the right to free quality public education for all.

Education was already deteriorating in Kurdistan before the pandemic, according to the Kurdistan Teachers’ Union (KTU). It has called for increased investments in education.

While remote education has resumed in 2021, German education unions are calling on public authorities to support educators’ outstanding performance in ensuring access to quality education for all and well-organised and designed exams.