A new Global Campaign for Education (GCE) Board has been elected to steer the movement for the next three years at the 4th GCE General Assembly held 23-24 February in Paris.
The fourteen member Board will be led by Camilla Croso, Coordinator of the Latin American Campaign for the Right to Education (CLADE), who replaces Kailash Satyarthi of the Global March against child labour as President. Satyarthi did not seek re-election for the position of President but remains a member of the Board. EI Deputy General Secretary, Monique Fouilhoux, was elected Chairperson. One of her major roles will be to oversee the functions of the GCE Secretariat. Jennifer Chiwela, Chair of the Africa Campaign on Education for All (ANCEFA) and Maria Khan, Secretary General of the Asia South Pacific Bureau for Adult Education (ASPBAE), were elected GCE Vice President and Deputy Chairperson, respectively. The other EI representative is Assibi Napoe, Chief Regional Coordinator for Africa. The General Assembly adopted a number of resolutions asserting the right of every child, youth and adult to quality education. The Assembly stressed the need for public authorities to invest in Early Childhood Education (ECE), engage in girls and women’s education, protect schools, teachers and students from attack and supported EI’s motion for governments to invest in teachers, their training and conditions of service. Moving the motion, EI Executive Board member, Abdelaziz Mountassir, said educators were key to quality education, yet they were poorly paid in far too many countries. He stressed: “Governments and education authorities should improve teachers’ salaries and engage teachers’ organisations through processes of social dialogue and collective bargaining.” The Assembly also emphasised the need to strengthen the GCE and adopted a resolution to set up a Constitutional Review Committee. The Committee is expected to have a holistic review of the GCE Constitution, receive proposals from its members and propose amendments for possible adoption at the next General Assembly in 2014. For more information on the new GCE Board and the World Assembly, please click here.