East African teacher leaders discuss Education for All, democratic freedom, status of teachers
The EI member organizations in Eastern Africa asked Education International to step up its activities in support of teachers in Somalia and Djibouti. In Dar Es Salaam, where East African education unions met on 10-12 December, the Somalian representative said that the country has no longer a viable public school system.
Children's schooling has become entirely dependent on private entrepreneurs and on the benevolence of NGOs and religious institutions, while qualified teachers are hard to find. The Global Partnership for Education, the international funding agency for Education For All programs, has recently allocated 20 million for education programs in Somalia. EI will introduce its Somalian affiliate to GPE officials so that the education union can be consulted on the spending of these funds.
The East African unions also expressed concern over ongoing restrictions of democratic freedoms in Djibouti. They are of the view that political pressure be exerted on the authoritarian rulers of this country, which is hosting several naval bases of North American and European nations. "While these countries use Djibouti as the basis from where they enforce international standards in the region, they keep their eyes closed for serious human rights violations in the country hosting their military", said one of the participants.
The East African unions also discussed the status of teachers as well as challenges to their public school systems. Representatives from Kenya and Tanzania reported efforts by the public authorities to introduce "performance pay" mechanisms. So far the education unions in these countries have successfully prevented the institution of these so called "cash reward" schemes, which are to be based on student achievement scores.
As for education aid made available to Uganda, it was noted by the Uganda teachers' union (UNATU) that too much was being spent on education "hardware", such as the construction of school buildings and the supply of school furniture and equipment, and not enough on improving the quality of teaching and learning. "Ten years ago when we had fewer buildings, less furniture and limited school materials, but more qualified teachers to do the job, we were more successful in fighting illiteracy and innumeracy," according to a union official.
The meeting, chaired by Margaret Rwabushaija, President of UNATU, Uganda - and member of the EI Executive Board - was attended by representatives from education unions in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Mauritius, Djibouti, Somalia and Malawi.
