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Education International’s African committee is convening with a focus on the two major challenges that hamper quality education on the continent: lack of school security and the urgent need for funding.

From October 12 and 17 the city of Accra, Ghana is playing host to the meeting of Education International (EI)’s African Region. Participants have agreed that education is facing exceptionally challenging times all over the world, which require energy and resources in order to retain the advances that have been achieved over the past few years.

Security: a first hurdle

The issue of safety and security for education workers and students remains a serious concern in many countries within region. The high incidence of violence and, especially, gender-based violence that occurs in and around schools, was deemed as wholly unacceptable by those in attendance. The challenge to security in schools has also included major outbreaks of disease, such as Ebola, political turmoil, civil war, and massive migration. Even some leaders of EI’s member organisations have been threatened and imprisoned.

Lack of funding and de-professionalisation

Education International deputy general secretary Charlie Lennon underlined the success the organisation has had in persuading the international community to better support the education community’s efforts, as shown by the adoption of a stand-alone Sustainable Development Goal on education in September by the United Nations. “Now we have to ensure the effective implementation of the Goal’s commitments and targets”, he said.

Education International has succeeded in building many positive relationships over the past years among partner civil society organisations and the intergovernmental agencies which determine which policies are implemented and where money is targeted. Lennon said EI was delighted to have its former Executive Board member, Teopista Birungi Mayanja of Uganda, appointed recently to the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity, one of the most significant advisory bodies in relation to the allocation of support and development funds for education.

But Lennon warned of the threat that the increasing tendency toward privatisation poses for public education. “When an education system is weak, its schools underfunded, and its teachers robbed of their professional standing, the market and privatisation vultures begin to circle, waiting for the right moment to strike. The Global Response to the privatisation and commercialisation of education campaign is our answer to this negative and exploitative vision of education.”

In many parts of the world, especially in parts of Africa, teachers are increasingly working on limited contracts, their work load is increasing, their professional space is shrinking and their autonomy challenged. Their access to professional development is curtailed, they earn salaries often below the average wage, and indeed below the poverty line. In some countries they lack the qualifications, skills, support, and learning materials to teach and teach well. This is what EI has labelled as de-professionalization, and the conference participants agreed that it is probably the most serious challenge that teachers are facing.

Lennon concluded his address to the conference by boldly stating that “quality education for all is not a luxury, nor the right of certain regions or the inheritance of some countries”. He urged the participants to continue the joint work within the world’s largest professional organisation, which now encompasses more than 32 million teachers and educators.