5 October 2009 Build the Future: Invest in Teachers Now!
This was the resounding message from teachers around the world as they lobbied and marched and celebrated World Teachers’ Day, despite the global economic crisis threatening education and other key public services.
In countries where democratic rights are respected, educators celebrated their profession and their activism in a great variety of colourful and creative ways. In other countries, teachers were prohibited for reasons, both natural and man-made, from exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association. In Indonesia, for example, teachers struggled to resume classes amongst the rubble in Padang, where more than 600 people were killed and many buildings, including schools, were destroyed by two massive earthquakes in late September. In Iran, teacher unionists were holding a union meeting in the Tehran home of their General Secretary, Mr. Baghani, when plain clothes policemen suddenly burst in and arrested them all. No reasons were given. Nine of the teacher unionists were released the next day, but Baghani was interrogated for 11 hours and charged with “holding an unauthorised meeting” and “celebrating World Teachers' Day.” In Romania, teachers and other public servants took strike action on 5 October to protest the massive public spending cuts ordered by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Teachers have already been on strike this year against a pay freeze and a refusal to pay a promised increase of 50% on their meagre average salaries of $485 per month. In Cambodia, the government forbade EI members from celebrating World Teachers’ Day. In a letter sent on 3 October, the Phnom Penh municipal authorities informed the Cambodian Independent Teachers’ Association (CITA) that its plans to mark the day in front of the former National Assembly and the Ministry of Education would not be allowed. Leng Bunhong, Chief of Administration for CITA, said: “Cambodia has now lost its freedom, rights of expression and of association to join together in an association or trade union.” By contrast, Spanish President José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero published an open letter to teachers in the context of Spain’s recent education reforms and its new project towards a national social agreement for education. “I will continue to dedicate my heart and all my efforts to showing that the greatness of any country should be measured by the respect it accords to its teachers,” Zapatero wrote. In Belgium, teachers demonstrated in front of the Ministry of Education for the French-speaking community for withdrawal of the plan to impose maximum working hours and cut education spending. In Germany, the EI affiliates GEW and VBE issued a joint statement insisting that “the decisions taken at the 2008 Education Summit must be fully and politically enforced.” They called for both the federal state and the Länder to take the joint responsibility for “creating the conditions to achieve an educational Republic of Germany.” In Albania, teacher unions FSASH and SPASH jointly organised events to involve local teachers and grassroots union members as much as possible. At one of event in the capital city of Tirana, the Minister of Education and Science Genc Pollo announced the government’s plan to make education one of its top priorities next year and to increase investment, especially at pre-school and primary levels. In the United States, the American Federation of Teachers urged Congress and the Obama administration to make sound investments in education, including teacher recruitment and retention, both domestically and abroad, to improve children’s futures and restore economic strength. “As leaders from Argentina to Zimbabwe grapple with the world economic crisis, it is more important than ever that they reject cuts to education, which offer only short-term relief yet have lasting effects from which children may never fully recover,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. The National Education Association in the USA expressed concern about the punitive testing regimes in American schools, and found parallels in the experience of South African teachers. Filmmaker Molly Blank explored the role of testing in South African high schools and, in celebration of World Teachers’ Day, her film “Testing Hope” was made available on the NEA website: www.nea.org. In the United Kingdom, members of the National Union of Teachers of England and Wales also boycotted the testing in their schools.
