Ei-iE

EI is pleased to have been informed by its affiliate member, the Uganda National Teachers’ Union (UNATU), that 5 October has been declared a national public holiday in Uganda, in honour of World Teachers’ Day.

More than 35 participants from Africa, Europe and the Middle East have converged in Fribourg, Switzerland, to assess developments in education across the French-speaking world.

Following the success of 7 September’s general strike, trade unions in France have called for another coordinated national strike across all sectors in opposition to the pension reform proposals being rushed through Parliament by President Sarkozy’s administration.

On 5 October, World Teachers’ Day, tens of thousands of students, parents and activists around the world will pay homage to all teachers who have been directly, or indirectly, affected by a major crisis.

Public sector unions in South Africa have been in negotiation with the government to secure a living wage and increased housing allowances for workers.

Many teaching positions within German schools remain vacant just weeks before the start of a new school year. Research from Germany’s largest education unions, the GEW and VBE, estimates that almost 45,000 posts are unfilled, with acute shortages in subjects such as mathematics and the sciences.

The US House of Representatives has voted to approve new legislation that will inject more than $10 billion in aid to states and school districts to save education jobs that were threatened by budget cuts.

More than 1,700 staff in UK schools were accused of misbehaviour by parents or pupils last year.

A survey carried out by the Canadian Teachers' Federation (CTF) has discovered that in the 2008-09 school year each Canadian teacher paid out from their own pocket an average of $453 for essential classroom materials or class-related activities.

EI affiliate in Kenya, the Kenyan National Union of Teachers (KNUT), urged “the government to declare the shortage of teachers a national disaster,” reported the national newspaper Daily Nation.

More than 9,000 delegates have gathered in New Orleans, USA, for the Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly of the National Education Association (NEA) - one of EI's largest affiliate members in America.

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On 4 June 2010, the Committee on the Application of Standards of the International Labour Conference (ILC) unanimously adopted a Report by the Joint ILO/UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendations concerning teaching personnel (CEART).

Teachers have been declared the ‘better part of society’ at the 23rd session of the Council of Europe’s Standing Conference of Education Ministers which took place in Ljubljana between 4 - 5 June, 2010.

Zimbabwe Education Minister David Coltart promised delegates attending the annual conference of the Zimbabwe Teachers' Association (ZIMTA) on 14 April that he would immediately terminate the possibility for parents to pay incentives to teachers, if the country’s teachers organisations would ask him to do so.

In the San Luis Province, Cuyo Region, in central-western Argentina, teachers have been staging a strike and holding mass rallies for five consecutive weeks. Their actions enjoy the support of 90% of the profession.

Honorable Ministers, Distinguished Guests, Colleagues, Friends,

At the national congress of the Botswana Teachers' Union (BTU) held from 5-9 Apr in Goodhope, the delegates voted to join forces with the public employees' union in order to persuade the government to implement the Public Services Act.