India faces a tremendous challenge in achieving Education for All (EFA). Still, millions of children do not attend primary schools, dropping out instead to take up work.

The Right to Education Act 2005 is now placed for public response. Essentially the Act will make full-time school attendance mandatory for the total population of 253 million children in India. It will ensure that the 166 million children already in schools remain there until they are 14, and that the 87 million children not at school are integrated into the system. Thus it places an obligation on the State “to take all necessary steps…to ensure that every child in the 6-14 years age group….participates in school and completes elementary education.” EI affiliates in India take a pro active stand on this.

Unions are discussing the content of the Act in an effort to exert influence on the political arena, including the Indian Parliament which is scrutinising the legislation. AIPTF is also working closely with the National Coalition for Education to put pressure on the Government of India to ensure that the necessary modifications to the Right to Education Act are made.

On November 28 2005, the GTU together with the Mauritius Family Planning Association (MFPA) held a workshop to discuss HIV/AIDS.

50 teachers participated in the event which featured discussions on parental education and empowerment of women; advocacy for enabling a better environment for sex education and a section on HIV/AIDS prevention.

The speakers included the president of the GTU, the President of the GTU’s ladies wing, the Executive Director of MFPA, and a representative of the Ministry of Women’s Rights.

One of the main messages communicated at the workshop was that there is a need to set up a vast campaign to sensitize the population, including primary school children, on the facts behind HIV/AIDS.

The President of the GTU noted that teachers have a great deal of influence over the way children think and act and should use this situation to increase the awareness of the child on HIV/AIDS and methods of preventing infection.

The Third Meeting of the Latin American Network of Education Workers “Las Redes Latinoamericanas de Trabajadoras de la Educación” took place in San José, Costa Rica from December 14-16.

Participants in the event included representatives working in the areas of gender and equality from all EI affiliate organisations across Latin America. EI Vice President Juçara Dutra closed the meeting.

The situation regarding HIV/AIDS in Latin America was analysed at the meeting, with emphasis laid on the importance of information and training activities specifically designed for education workers. Participants outlined the difficulties associated with getting training, as well as the fundamental role which could be played by teachers’ unions to overcome prejudices and misconceptions about the epidemic.

The working plan for 2006-2008 which was approved at the meeting foresees the implementation of seminars on gender and HIV/AIDS in the sub-regional area (Central America, Andean Subregion and MERCOSUR).

On November 9 2005 UNESCO launched the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2006: “Literacy for Life”.

The Report analyses progress towards Universal Primary Education and Gender Parity, concluding that in spite of steady advances in some of the world’s poorest countries, the pace of progress remains insufficient.

EI is currently preparing a review of the Report from the teachers’ union perspective. It includes commentary on developments made towards achieving Education for All (EFA) by 2015; international aid to basic education; activities in developing countries and the ever important issue of ensuring quality education. The official summary of the Global Monitoring Report 2006 and the EI response will be sent to affiliates later this month.

Governments worldwide claim to give the highest priority to combatting the HIV/AIDS pandemic. But what is the reality for employees working in the public sector? Do public authorities really cater for the needs of their employees? Is there a (credibility) gap between on the one hand policies and policy papers and on the other day to day practice. Is government policy actually being implemented and if so, to what extent?

To find answers to these and other questions EI and Public Services International (PSI) plan to develop a joint study on the role of the government as an employer of public service employees in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The study will be carried out in a number of African countries to ascertain how the public authorities act vis à vis employees in the areas of prevention, care and treatment and social security. To date, no systematic effort has been made to conduct research on living and working conditions in relation to HIV/AIDS. Information in this regard is crucial given that in many (if not all) Sub-Saharan countries, the government is the largest employer and, therefore, has an exemplary role to play. Findings of this study carried out in Sub-Saharan Africa should be of use to unions in those countries not (yet) heavily hit by the pandemic.

At the request of Ministries of Education in Africa, member agencies of the UNAIDS Interagency Task Team for Education (IATT) have established a Working Group to assist countries to ‘Accelerate their Education Sector Response to HIV/AIDS’. This is a multi-partner effort, involving governments, development partners, civil society and the private sector, which aims to promote better understanding, stronger leadership and more effective national responses at all levels of the education sector. Since the creation of the Working Group in November 2002, 33 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and a comparable number of development partners have participated in 13 workshops at the sub-regional and national levels. These workshops have resulted in the development of specific plans that, in many cases, have led to the implementation of activities at all levels. The approximate schedule for these workshops in Sub-Saharan Africa is as follows:

• National level workshop in Tanzania, 27th – 31st March 2006
• Provincial level workshops in Ethiopia, first quarter 2006
• National level workshop in the Gambia, first quarter 2006
• National level workshop in Guinea, second quarter 2006
• Sub-Regional level workshop in Central Africa involving Cameroon, the DRC and the Republic of Congo, second quarter 2006

“ When UPE was introduced, education standards dropped drastically for two main reasons. First of all inadequate training of human resources - 22,000 teachers were recruited and deployed in the Primary Sector without training or orientation. Secondly infrastructure and materials suffered. There were inadequate school buildings which translated into pupils learning in the open. When the rains came they had to run back to their homes leaving some lessons unattended. This meant that syllabuses could not be adequately covered by the end of the year. Also text books were by far insufficient to cater for pupils, so they had to share and if any homework was given, only the pupil who was able to read could do it. From this, one can only conclude that the government could not fully attain its intended goals in education due to very low standards.”

“ The financial burden on parents has reduced to about 50% of the former amount. This is so because school fees are not fully paid for by the government. So what parents are committed to are social obligations to their wards which have a cost in education. ”

“ We are in 100% agreement with this because some of the challenges government faces when implementing new policies could have been either avoided or lessened via thorough consultations with stakeholders. In Malawi, some suitable strategies could have been developed to facilitate the smooth implementation of such policies.”