Ei-iE

Twenty four unionists from across twelve Caribbean countries met in St Lucia for the Caribbean regional workshop of the EI EFAIDS Programme. During the four day meeting participants evaluated 2008 activities and finalised plans for 2009, and together developed new strategies to tackle education and AIDS topics.

The Minister of Education and Culture of St Lucia, the Honourable Arsene Vigil James, attended the opening session and applauded the work of the unions under the EI EFAIDS Programme. Virginia Albert-Poyotte, EI Regional Coordinator underlined the impact that teacher unions in the region were having through their work on HIV/AIDS and education themes.

She cautioned that, “we have not won the battle yet”, and urged unions to sustain their efforts. Julian Monrose of the St Lucia Teachers’ Union (SLTU) said the issues under the EI EFAIDS Programme were a high priority for the Caribbean and called on all unions to be even more proactive in their approach.

Virginia Albert-Poyotte reported on the recent EI mission to Haiti. The damage wreaked by this year’s hurricanes particularly affected Haiti where many schools were destroyed. TheHaitian education system is in crisis; half of the children are not in school and there are on average 100 pupils in every class. In early 2009, EI will continue its work with unions in the region to strengthen their resilience and improve their response to disasters.

Promoting quality education has becoming increasingly prominent in EFAIDS Programmes across the Caribbean. The three unions from Suriname shared their experience of holding EFA workshops to tackle issues such as the high drop-out figures in Surinamese schools. The Grenada Union of Teachers(GUT) described their workshops on the theme of school-based violence which were held to counteract the culture of gang violence affecting Grenadian schools.

Including Teachers Living with HIV in EFAIDS activities was a major theme in the discussions. Participants acknowledged that stamping out stigma would be a major step. Merely identifying Teachers Living with HIV was challenging as AIDS-related discrimination meant many teachers were reluctant to share their status. The Jamaican Teachers’ Association (JTA) stressed that, “it is difficult to claim that you have HIV if you are not sure that you will be safe to say it”.

The importance of having Workplace Policies on HIV to tackle discrimination and protect Teachers Living with HIV was discussed. For SLTU working in cooperation with parent associations and school boards was essential for the development and implementation of good policy. Further AIDS related themes discussed included condom-use, HIV testing and care, and homophobia.