Ei-iE

The 10th Education International (EI) World Congress, meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 29 July to 2 August 2024:

Notes:

1. It is estimated that globally 222 million school-aged children are affected by crises and emergencies, including war and conflict and that 35% (78.2 million) of those children are out of school;
2. That two thirds of children in Ukraine are either learning online or through a mix of online and in-person;
3. That many children and young people in Palestine are unable to access even a basic entitlement to education, with schools closed and teachers struggling to provide virtual learning in some areas;
4. That there is a global teacher recruitment and retention crisis and this is particularly acute in areas of conflict;
5. That in many conflict-affected countries and emergency contexts, teachers are often underpaid, paid late, or are not paid all;
6. That in addition to the threats to their personal safety, teachers working in areas of conflict face huge challenges in carrying out their role. This includes struggling to access the resources needed if their students are to achieve the best outcomes;
7. That refugee teachers are often refused the right to work in the host country, depriving refugee children and children in the host country of learning opportunities in the contexts where they are needed most;
8. That more than half of pre-school to secondary-aged children who are refugees are not enrolled in the national education systems in countries hosting refugees.

Condemns:

9. The increasing number of attacks on educators, students and education facilities;
10. Governments, such as the Afghan government, that ban girls and women from participating in education;
11. The armed groups such as those that operate in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, that target girls and women, abducting them from schools and education settings, subjecting them to sexual violence and forcing them to support military operations, including forced marriage.

Recognises:

12. That conflict is a driver of gender-based and sexual violence, and that this places girls and women at huge risk of being denied access to education;
13. The risks that girl and women students and educators in areas of conflict face as a result of attending their school or education setting, including the risk of abduction or sexual violence.

Resolves to:

14. Support our fellow educators working in areas of conflict. This includes action to realise SDG4 and secure the right to quality inclusive education for all;
15. Collaborate with non-governmental organisations with expertise working in war and conflict affected areas;
16. Challenge governments in the global north to fulfil their responsibilities in relation to the SDGs, including SDG4 through:

1. the development of assistance which has an increased focus on and allocates more resources to education including through meeting international targets to allocate at least 15% of Official Development Assistance to education and 10% of humanitarian spending to education;
2. the development and implementation of strategies which protect students and educators and keep them safe as well as securing their right to high-quality education and work;
3. governments fulfilling their responsibilities in country and ensuring that all children and adolescents, including refugee children and adolescents have access to quality education;
4. ensuring that mechanisms are in place in countries hosting refugees to recognise the skills and qualifications of refugee teachers so that they can teach and to offer them professionalization possibilities to acquaint themselves with the local education system and curriculum and to learn the local language;
5. ensuring accountability for attacks on schools and other grave violations against children in situations of armed conflict, including through implementing United Nations Security Council Resolution 2601 on the protection of schools in armed conflict and endorsing and implementing the Safe Schools Declaration;

17. Call on unions to work in partnership with unions in areas of conflict to:

1. gather evidence and raise awareness of the experiences and challenges faced by students and educators in areas of conflict;
2. amplify the views of educators working in areas of conflict about how their needs and the needs of their students can best be met; and
3. gather evidence about the impacts of international strategies and programmes to support education in those areas; to highlight any shortcomings in those programmes; and to advocate for reforms that will secure high-quality education and work;

18. Prepare an action plan for mobilising EI member organisations and the international community in support of the establishment of a Global Fund for Teachers’ Salaries in Emergency, as recommended in the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession.