Ei-iE

Members of teacher unions in Senegal want to avoid the current school and university year being left “blank” because of the COVID-19 epidemic. While they acknowledge that distance learning is helping education to continue, they insist on an organised recovery of the academic year at educational facilities with proper safety...

Teacher unions in Burkina Faso are urging public authorities to ensure that adequate safety measures are in place for students and educators before the reopening of schools scheduled for 11 May. The unions recognise that remote teaching and learning is not happening uniformly throughout the country and cannot replace education...

Representatives from the gender, equity and equality units of EI member unions across Latin America were invited by the regional office to participate in a virtual meeting last Wednesday to reflect on the situation of women in general, and women educators in particular, in the time of COVID-19.

Education unionists in the Philippines have reiterated the need to ensure safety from COVID-19 in all classrooms for teachers and students before opening education establishments for a new school year.

The American Federation of Teachers has launched a blueprint providing guidance for safely and responsibly reopening school buildings and other institutions and imagining a ‘new normal’ for public education, public health, and the economy in the age of COVID-19.

The statement adopted by the Asia-Pacific Regional Committee cites the divergent approaches of governments to the impact of COVID-19 on health, workers, and the economy. It also stresses the lack of consultation of education unions, with rare exceptions, on questions related to the pandemic in the region.

The Education International Africa Regional Committee, in a virtual meeting held on 20 April 2020, adopted a statement that focused on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education in the region and urged governments to consult teachers and education support personnel (ESP) through their representative organisations to ensure that...

As a growing number of countries are considering easing restrictions and gradually resuming onsite education, Education International stresses a set of five dimensions that should be considered by governments, in dialogue with educators and their unions, when planning this next phase of the response to the COVID-19 crisis in education.

While all educational facilities in Romania are closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federation of Free Unions in Education is ensuring that the current school year can be concluded under the best possible educational and health conditions and the return to school in September can be carried out in...

Despite continuing their work online, teachers in private schools in Jordan are not being paid their full salaries. Most of the teachers affected are women. Education International urges the Jordanian government to guarantee the fundamental rights of teachers and education workers and update national legislation to prohibit gender discrimination at...

International Workers’ Memorial Day on occupational health and safety, observed the 28th of April every year. The international day was born in 1996 to mourn those who had died on the job and to fight for the living. It has spread to all continents of the world.

While acknowledging that teachers had already been offered training to help them develop the skills needed to deliver online classes before the COVID-19 crisis had begun, educators should be better trained in the area according to an education trade union in Cameroon. Authorities should ensure that teachers are well-equipped to...

Members of Senegal’s teaching unions fear the rapid aggravation of the coronavirus crisis in their country and are taking action to ensure teacher and pupil safety, as well as educational continuity.

On World Intellectual Property Day, 26 April, Education International calls for copyright legislation to be urgently updated to ensure open access to research and education materials for teachers and researchers across the world. This need has been intensified by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has caused an unprecedented disruption in...

Although they believe the XGEST platform distance learning initiative launched by the Ministry of Education is worth trying out during the COVID-19 initiative, teachers, through their representative organisation, the Syndicat de l'Éducation Nationale say that they have strong reservations as to whether all students can access it. They therefore insist...

Education International and UK’s NASUWT, the Teachers’ Union have condemned the re-arrest of Tehran education union leader Esmail Abdi.

Confronted by the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa, the South African Democratic Teachers' Union is doing its utmost to reach out to union members, ensure teachers’ and students’ safety from the virus, and improve access to remote teaching and learning.

Nineteen people were killed in a shooting rampage in Nova Scotia, a maritime province in Eastern Canada. Along with its member organisation, the Canadian Teachers’ Federation, Education International mourns the many lives lost in a shooting rampage in Nova Scotia, including a teacher and the wife of another teacher.