The 7th Education International (EI) World Congress meeting in Ottawa, Canada, from 21nd to 26th July 2015:
ORGANIZING AND UNITING FOR QUALITY EDUCATION
1. NOTING that the teachers’ contribution is key in influencing the politics in Africa which, in turn, determines the quality of Education policies, programmes, and teaching and learning outcomes;
2. BELIEVING that quality of teachers and conducive management of education personnel are indispensable to the achievement of quality education, particularly beyond 2015;
3. NOTING that most Higher Education personnel are not unionized and several Higher Education organisations in Africa are not affiliated to EI, making it difficult for such unions to contribute towards the ideals of EI in particular and education in general;
4. OBSERVING that communication is a very important tool of trade union operations, namely; recruitment, retention and mobilisation which make unions stronger and more effective to confront challenges;
INVESTING IN QUALITY EDUCATION
5. NOTING that investment in quality public education is an investment in human development and economic growth for each nation, and many other positive prospects;
6. NOTING that there is a rapid increase in the number of private schools throughout Africa and that the Pearson private school system, believed to be operating in more than one hundred countries, forces children to pay fees every day;
7. CONSIDERING that public schools set the standard for equity, non-discrimination and quality education;
WORKING ENVIRONMENT
8. NOTING that the current spate of devastation in some countries such as Nigeria, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, etc. by insurgents has concomitant serious impact on public schools;
9. CONSIDERING that there can be no effective teaching and learning in schools that are under terror threat where teachers and learners are traumatised by the effect of the insurgency;
10. BELIEVING that the effectiveness of teachers’ contribution depends on the quality of teaching and learning tools, and the quality and safety of the environment;
THE 7TH EI WORLD CONGRESS RESOLVES:
11. That EI encourages its affiliates to carry out research and training of membership on professionalism and broader outlook on the course of education, including policies, curricula and syllabi;
12. That EI affiliates design dynamic programmes that will accommodate strong networking and make effective use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT);
13. That Unions reorient their work to promote internal democracy and sustainability, by developing succession plans which take into consideration the needs of members, especially young and female teachers, persons with disabilities, ECE educators and Higher Education personnel ;
14. That EI and its affiliates campaign to mobilise the public to increase government spending on education to at least six per cent (6%) of GDP;
15. That affiliates set up monitoring mechanisms to check the efficiency in distribution and judicious utilisation of funds invested in education;
16. That EI builds the capacity of its affiliates to undertake budget tracking;
17. That EI and its affiliates lobby Governments and communities to provide security to students, teachers and education workers in order to ensure quality and secure teaching and learning environments, in collaboration with regional, continental, and intercontinental bodies;
18. That EI and its affiliates pledge solidarity with the teachers and students of Nigeria and other parts of the continent and the world where schools are targets of extremists;
19. That EI strengthens its affiliates to fight for quality inputs (funds, materials, and tools), and quality environments, justice and peace for achieving quality education in the continent and the world at large.
THEREFORE, THE EI WORLD CONGRESS:
20. DECLARES unqualified commitment to fight against the Ebola pandemic through the power of education and solidarity;
21. DEMANDS better working conditions and respect for Human and Trade Union Rights in the continent.
This is the fight that we shall unite to accomplish in our lifetime in defence of the future of our children.