Ei-iE

The National Union of Education Workers (SNTE) has presented a 10-point programme on the safe re-opening of schools to the Ministry of Public Education. The union is proposing a “hybrid” launch of the school year with a mix of distance learning and in-person education.

GEMS Metropole School threatened parents with withholding students’ report cards and transfer slips unless school fees were paid. Education International and the Global Campaign for education call on the United Arab Emirates to not tolerate extortionary manoeuvres against children in private schools.

Jordanian security forces arrested leading members of the Jordanian Teachers’ Association, raided the union’s offices and shut it down for a period of two years. The global education community is outraged by this unlawful attack on our colleagues.

COVID19

In Nepal, an education union has highlighted how the COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to new challenges. These include non-payment of teacher salaries by some private school employers, the psychological impact of the lockdown on students, and the challenges of online teaching.

An Education International affiliate representing elementary school teachers in India has called on the government to fundamentally shift its approach to education. The union voiced its concern over growing inequality stemming from distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Education International strongly supports its Filipino affiliate in its struggle to see educators’ human and trade union rights respected. It condemns the use of harassment methods and anti-terrorism legislation to eliminate critical legal protections.

EI’s Mexican member SNTE presented the Los Pinos Declaration at a virtual seminar on 15 July. It is the final document of the event that closes the International Year of Indigenous Languages 2019, held on 27-28 February 2020 in Mexico City.

The Australian Education Union has published a report showing a significant digital gap during the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of digital inclusion for public school students.

The Portuguese education union, Federaçao Nacional dos Professores, is concerned about teacher professional issues, inequities, lack of social dialogue, and assessment of teachers.

In an interview with EI, Christina Colclough, future of work expert, discussed teacher adaptation to digitalisation, life-long learning, the digital divide, the relationship between virtual and physical learning, data, and related issues. She stressed that the use and abuse of data was a danger to worker and human rights.

Education union leaders and educators have paid tribute to the late Emanuel A Fatoma. Fatoma’s sudden passing on 6 July came as a shock to many of us and to his former colleagues and friends from Africa and around the world.

The number of violations of human rights is rising in Iraq since the beginning of the widespread protests of late 2019 and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Kurdistan Teachers’ union has denounced the fact that the Iraqi authorities, including in the Kurdistan region, routinely use vaguely worded laws to bring...

Education International’s affiliates in the United States have reasserted the need for public authorities to listen to the voice of educators and their professional organisations when reopening schools and education institutions, and to deliver proper funding for the education sector.

Just a few months ago, who would have imagined education on a massive scale without schools or home schooling and tutoring by digital platforms? And yet, in most countries, during the pandemic, that was the only alternative to no education at all. In that context, the “lucky” ones were those...

Trade unionist teachers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have called on the public authorities to respect a promise to pay “new units” teachers since April 2020.

Education unions in the UK have voiced deep concern concerning the reopening of schools and education institutions planned for September.

Education International released its publication Forward to School on 13 July. The document is based on the five pillars identified in the EI Guidance on Reopening Schools and Education Institutions released in April.