African education union communication officers recently gathered for a ComNet Africa meeting focused on communicating and campaigning for the Education International (EI) Go Public! Fund Education campaign. The event emphasized the urgent need for increased investment in public education and educators across the continent.
A call to action for African governments to invest in education and teachers
Dr Dennis Sinyolo, EI Africa Director, opened the webinar: “We are here to share experiences, develop and sharpen our strategies for elevating the Go Public! Fund Education campaign,” calling for governments to accelerate progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) by investing in public education, teachers, and education workers.
Dr Sinyolo pointed out the stark reality: “Africa is furthest away from achieving SDG4. On current trends, SDG4 targets will be widely missed.” He stressed the importance of viewing education funding as an investment “in our young people, our future and the Africa we want.”
Only about 60% of our teachers are trained to national standards, and in most cases, even those standards remain relatively low, he also said, adding: “We need to raise professional teaching standards and ensure that the minimum teaching qualification across the continent is a bachelor’s degree.”
He went on to ask participants to make sure African governments know about and implement the United Nations (UN) Recommendations on the Teaching Profession and the new African Union’s Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA) 2026-2035.
The EI Africa Director also underlined that “we count on you as communications experts, union leaders and members to help us elevate the Go Public! Fund Education campaign. We need a quality public school for every African child. Every child should be taught by highly trained, professionally qualified, well-supported, adequately remunerated and motivated teachers.”
Global campaign overview
Rebeca Logan, Education International’s Director for Campaigns and Communications, shared updates on the Global Status of Teachers report and the campaign's progress.
“We just launched the Global Status of Teachers report in January. In it you will find data on teacher salaries, workloads, working conditions and about our demands and what works in different parts of the world.”
She also gave are updates from the campaign, recently launched in Jamaica, Guyana and Saint Vincent and The Grenadines.
She commended unionists in Uruguay – one of the first target countries of the campaign – who were able, using the Go Public! Fund Education campaign as part of their toolkit, to exert political pressure and successfully push the country “from having a right-wing government to a president who is not only a unionist, but also a teacher.”
When it comes to funding education and finding resources, Logan said that the Go Public! Fund Education campaign contends that there is sufficient funding for sustainable investment in education and in educators to achieve quality education for all. "When we talk about funding education, many times we hear the excuse that there is not enough money for education or the public sector, that there is a crisis, that the budget is overstretched."
However, with excessive military budgets, multinational corporations that do not pay their fair share of taxes, and an international monetary system that crushes national budgets with foreign debt payments, the campaign argues, that billions of dollars are available to fund quality education in every corner of the world.
She also highlighted: “As communicators, as we talk about the campaign, we need to present a positive narrative of the world that we want. The narrative is that we believe that fully funding public education systems and the teachers and the education support personnel is key to a sustainable future for all.”
The campaign’s significance for African education systems
EI Africa Regional Coordinator Dr Pedi Anawi highlighted the significance of the Go Public! Fund Education campaign for African education systems. He said that "on average, African governments invest around 15% of their national expenditure on education against the internationally benchmarked minimum of 20%. Even in countries where government invest more than 20% of the national budget, the countries continue to face high rates of teacher shortage, insufficient school infrastructure, and high rates of privatization and commercialization of education."
Dr Anawi also discussed the need to increase the adequacy, efficiency, and equity of funding in the face of tight fiscal space and competing priorities. In the African region, 25 countries have joined the campaign to date, using strategies including: research – collection of relevant data to help determine the level of funding of public education needed; meetings with stakeholders, networking with other civil society organizations; radio/TV/social media messages, street marches; and the use of the United Nations Recommendations on the teaching profession to lobby ministry officials, Members of Parliament, political leaders, and international stakeholders.
“The Go Public! Fund Education campaign is more than relevant for the African continent,” he agreed. “EI member organisations are united in their determination to ensure that every learner, no matter where they live, is taught by a qualified teacher. Increasing salaries, reducing workload and job security is essential to recruit and retain the teachers we need now and into the future.”
Success stories from African countries
Agnès Bikoko of the Fédération Camerounaise des Syndicats de l’Éducation (FECASE) and Africa Women in Education Network (AWEN) President shared their achievements in Cameroon: “The campaign empowered and helped unions in Cameroon to better organize themselves and make educators and the general public aware of the extent of the impact of commercialization and underfunding of the sector.”
“We started with a government report assessing the state of education in Cameroon, with a public school system that is dying due to a lack of adequate funding. Among report findings: A proliferation of private institutions, a decrease in the budget allocated to public education, a risk of widening inequalities, and a deterioration of public school infrastructure.”
FECASE is working with the Cameroon Education for All Network (CEFAN), comprising unions affiliated with EI and an inter-union body, to advocate for an increased budget allocated to education, she noted.
Daisy Zambuko from the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (ZIMTA) recounted their fruitful engagement with parliamentarians: “After engaging with parliamentarians, the policymakers promised to expand the debate to increasing financing of education in 2025. They also agreed to consult ZIMTA on the future education financing matters.”
Through the campaign, she reported, “we have learned that community involvement through awareness-raising marches and campaigns assists a long way in driving a stakeholder buy-in for progress to be made towards our goal. We have also acknowledged the need to ensure that governments treat increased education funding as an investment and not some consumption issue which needs to be curtailed.”
Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) General Secretary Clinton Ikpitibo discussed the extensive campaign activities undertaken by Nigerian teachers since 2017. The campaign, which began in this country under the global response to the privatization and commercialization of education, was a reaction to the growing influence of non-state actors in education, such as Bridge International Academies.
"We have been able to sensitize over 600 union leaders and a large number of parents, public authorities, and other stakeholders on the negative impact of privatization and commercialization of education. Our collaboration with civil society organizations (CSOs) has been a significant aspect of the campaign, helping to build consensus around the need for increased government investment in education and teachers."
The campaign has also influenced state government decisions, such as preventing the establishment of Bridge International Academies (BIA) schools in certain states and closing some existing BIA schools. The NUT has called on the government to allocate at least 6% of GDP or 20% of the annual budget to education and to establish effective monitoring mechanisms for non-state actors in education.
Garang Deng Kuol Athian, President of the National Teachers Union South Sudan, explained that the campaign significantly contributed to the union’s growth and development, and reported on the challenges faced by teachers: “The most critical issue facing them is salary. Teachers have not been paid for more than a year now.”
Despite these challenges, he emphasized the importance of continuing the campaign and building capacity for union leaders at national, regional and local levels.
Challenges and opportunities
Dennis Sinyolo concluded the webinar, saying: “The good news is that all the four countries that participated in this panel still have ongoing activities and will still be able to continue with the campaign, at least for this year. We'll continue to support you as EI to continue with your work.”
He also reminded that from October 1st-3rd, the African Union will be convening a conference of education ministers in Addis Ababa. EI will send a delegation to that important conference, and push for the implementation of CESA 2026-35.
Sinyolo also insisted on the need “to deal with the issues of national financial debt. Many African countries are trapped in debt and don't have any way to invest more in education.”
Citing the case of Kenya, spending over 50% of its budget servicing debt, he said: “That is why we are calling on the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, all developed countries to forgive the debt of African countries, so that African countries can invest in education and in public services.”
He also invited participants to join the next IE Africa’s regional webinar on school leadership to be held on April 16th.
He closed the event by a clear call to action: “Let's keep elevating the Go Public! Fund Education campaign. We are stronger together!”