In this issue:
Website of the month
EI Campaigns
Affiliate's Activities
General News
Three Questions to...Steve Sinnott

The Confederation of Argentine Teachers (CTERA) and its partners commemorated World AIDS Day in Argentina by offering free voluntary HIV Tests and advice as well as by distributing information and condoms.

Across Niger the Union of Teachers (SNEN) organised special ceremonies on December 1. This included a presentation of short plays by secondary school students in Niamey in the presence of officials, education sector partners, students and teachers.

The 2006 World AIDS Day Campaign in Swaziland focused on several key messages under the umbrella of prevention: ‘Stop AIDS & Keep the Promise’, ‘Know your Status’, ‘Make Sex Safer’ and ‘Avoid Casual Sex’. The Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) organised a special march in Manzini. They also burned candles with red AIDS ribbons over a period of 10 days in remembrance of all those touched by HIV and AIDS and to symbolise the hope which is so important to them.

The Uganda National Teachers Union (UNATU) attended the National commemoration on December 1 together with the Ministries and NGOs. Highlights included a march, live music and speeches. They also ran a news supplement in the Weekly Observer newspaper on 30th November 2006 and an article in their newsletter on December 15.

The Ethiopian Teachers’ Association (ETA) commemorated World AIDS Day by inviting prominent activist teachers in the union, students, a person living with HIV, parents, representatives of civil society organizations and members of parliaments to a special ceremony. They also held a panel discussion on the need to mainstream the EFAIDS Programme and HIV/AIDS education in schools.

The Namibia National Teachers’ Union (NANTU) celebrated World AIDS Day in the Khomas region (Windhoek) together with all of the local schools as well as various organisations. The Secretary General of NANTU delivered a keynote address while the UNESCO country representative highlighted the impact of HIV and AIDS on education internationally. There was also a testimony from a HIV positive teacher who encouraged teachers’ who are infected to live positively and continue giving quality education. The media covered the event and it was broadcasted on television during the news.

Finally in Belgium EI staff took part in the European Commission’s ‘AIDS: Remember Me?’ event, aimed at raising the issue of the apparent alarming lack of knowledge on the transmission of HIV amongst European citizens. The EI Campaigns Unit organised a special World AIDS Day event for staff and the organisation was represented at the World AIDS Day March in Brussels and at an FGBT (Belgian Labour Federation) sponsored seminar on HIV/AIDS in Namur.

For a more comprehensive report of these activities, please click here.

In October EI participated in the Regional Conference on Trade Unions and Child Labour organised by its affiliates FSASH and SPASH in Tirana, Albania.

The Conference gathered representatives from trade unions, employers' organizations and governmental institutions from Albania, as well as teachers' unions from Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Moldova, the Dutch Unions FNV/AOb and ILO/IPEC.

EI highlighted the important role of teachers’ unions in the fight against child labour through prevention and monitoring actions. The Conference was an excellent opportunity to share information on child labour data, and in particular school drop-out rates in the region. The event also allowed for the discussion of several examples of child labour interventions in the various countries, which could serve as inspiration for others teacher unions' actions.

EI also participated in the second meeting of the Global Task Force on Child Labour and Education For All that took place in Cairo on 14 November 2006. Together with the ILO, UNESCO, UNICEF, the World Bank, UNDP and the Global March against Child Labour, EI is an active partner in this initiative to step up activities and efforts on child labour and education.

The operationalisation of the Global Task Force at national level and the mainstreaming of child labour issues within national education plans were the main points of discussion.

For more information, please contact us.

As the end of the first year of the EFAIDS Programme approaches, the 7 EI affiliates involved (from Niger, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Guinea Conakry, Ivory Coast and Rwanda) got together in Dakar this November to evaluate their projects, exchange experiences and work on their action plans for 2007.

At an event marked by an atmosphere of solidarity, the participants took part in training and evaluation activities and engaged in fruitful discussions about all aspects of the programme and union life in the region as a whole. One particular issue which was addressed at the meeting was that of how to address the problem of violence against girls and in schools in general. For more information, please contact us.

This month saw the coming together of Teachers’ unions from across the Caribbean on the island of St.Croix for the Executive Meeting of the Caribbean Union of Teachers (CUT). Key issues and challenges faced by the region were raised at the meeting such as teacher migration, HIV/AIDS, health and safety and the Commonwealth Ministers of Education Conference on Education for All, taking place in Cape Town in mid December.

During the meeting, members were moved by the report on Haiti delivered by the Education International (EI) Regional Co-ordinator for North America and the Caribbean, Virginia Albert. She said that in some schools there are not any proper toilet facilities and in may cases there are some 300-400 students per teacher. The issue of teacher shortages in the region took centre stage as the Bahamas and the US Virgin Islands made a strident appeal for help in recruiting teachers, particularly in the fields of mathematics and science.

The President of the CUT Mr. Byron Farquharson also highlighted the need for teachers unions to engage their members in activities that will help combat HIV & AIDS. Fourteen of the teachers' unions were present at the meeting and many of them are currently undertaking training activities on HIV & AIDS for their members.

For more information, please contact us.

The GTU (Government Teachers’ Union) in collaboration with the Mauritius Family Planning Association organised a one-day seminar on "Integrating Sex Education & HIV/AIDS in School Curriculum” on the 28th of November.

Given the Government’s decision to introduce sex education to the primary curriculum, the GTU seminar aimed at informing teachers of the new role they will have to play in teaching their students about sex and sexually transmitted diseases. It also focused on building awareness among teachers on the growing number of early sexual relations taking place and the risks attached to such. For more information, please contact us.

On the occasion of World AIDS Day, UNESCO, EI, the Education Development Centre, and the WHO organised a consultation on ways to support the needs of teachers living with HIV in Eastern and Southern Africa. The meeting which took place from 30 November to 1 December 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya brought together key stakeholders, including HIV-positive teacher groups, ministries of education and teacher unions from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The Consultation concluded that HIV positive teachers have a prominent role to play in shaping the education sector response to HIV and AIDS. Their active engagement particularly in advocacy and the identification of needs and overall design of effective programmes is vital.

The teachers’ unions expressed their support for HIV positive teachers and stated that all efforts should be made to provide them with a platform for advocacy and to ensure that their needs are met. Overall the event represented an important step forward in ensuring the Greater Involvement of People living with HIV and AIDS (GIPA), an internationally recognised approach. The education sector is among the first to adopt this strategy in concrete terms.

For more information, please click here.

Ministers, heads of donor agencies and leaders of civil society organisations including EI met in Cairo from 14 to 16 November 2006, at the invitation of the Director-General of UNESCO, for the Sixth Meeting of the High-Level Group on Education for All (EFA). The central theme of the event Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), as highlighted in this year’s Global Monitoring Report on EFA.

The group covered a wide range of topics varying from financing of education, HIV and AIDS, the quality imperative and the need to recruit 18 million teachers before 2015. In its conclusions, the participants called for improved coordination, considering the “one country – one education sector plan” approach as the best means to achieve this. For more information, please click here.

As reported in previous editions of the EFAIDS newsletter, in 2002, the UNAIDS Inter-agency Task Team established a working Group to help countries to “Accelerate the Education Sector Response to HIV/AIDS in Africa” (http://www.schoolsandhealth.org/). In October senior officials from the DRC, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Chad, and the Republic of the Congo participated in a highly successful sub-regional workshop at which a program of future work was developed for each country. A national level workshop also took place during October in The Gambia.

Over 130 participants (including 6 regional education teams, the central government, the National AIDS Authority, the Gambia Teachers’ Union and development partners) worked together to develop plans at the regional and national level. Likewise at a workshop in Ethiopia, a shared vision for the education sector was developed for inclusion in the draft National Education Sector Policy for HIV and AIDS. For more information please contact lesley.drake@imperial.ac.uk.

Accelerate Agenda for early 2007:

Sub-Saharan Africa

• Eastern and Western African Ministries of Education HIV and AIDS Focal Point Meeting, both in first quarter 2007

Asia

• National Workshop in Sri Lanka on HIV and AIDS, School Health and Nutrition Programming, February 2007
• Greater Mekong Sub-Regional Workshop in Cambodia, February 2007

“ The purpose of the group is to ensure that the voice of teachers and their unions in the Commonwealth is heard and has an impact on education policies. We also coordinate the activities of unions from the Commonwealth countries. Thus far we have made a good deal of progress, for instance through the adoption of the Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol which is now getting recognition from governments, ILO and UNESCO.”

“ We strongly focused on the achievement of Education For All. Please bear in mind that about half of all children out of school worldwide are from the Commonwealth countries. So there is a lot to do. We also emphasised the need for governments to consult unions when developing education plans. That message was laid down in a Declaration which we submitted to the ministers.”

“ We appreciate that the ministers have identified EFA as the key issue for debate. That is positive. The theme of the conference is "Access to quality education: for the good of all". What is important is that the ministers see education as more than what the individual gets out of it. It is all about society as a whole and the role of education to promote social cohesion. That is where Public Education comes in!”