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Leaders of Education International Africa (EIA) member organizations exchanged experiences and strategies during a Go Public! Fund Education event and then actively participated in the Pan African Conference on Teacher Education (PACTED 2025). During these high-level events held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, they reaffirmed their commitment to the EI Go Public! campaign and urged African governments to increase funding in public education systems, teachers and education support personnel.

Africa demands immediate and decisive action to fully fund public education and invest in teachers

At the opening of PACTED 2025, held from October 1st-3rd, 2025, EI President Mugwena Maluleke articulated the profession’s vision: “We commit fiercely, unapologetically to every child’s right to learn. We commit to holding governments accountable. We commit to defending our profession, its quality, its dignity, its soul. The United Nations Recommendations on the Teaching Profession are our compass. They are clear: Teachers must shape curricula, pedagogy, policy. Teachers must shape the future. Transformation demands more than consultation. It demands co-creation. Teachers as equal partners.”

Maluleke further noted that, with 118 million children out of school and an acute teacher shortage affecting education across the continent, the region demands immediate and decisive action to fully fund public education and invest in teachers.

“We gather to honor those who shape destinies. Students craft tributes, communities rally in appreciation, and educators inspire each generation to dream bigger than the barriers they face. Yet celebration alone is not enough”, Maluleke also noted during the official World Teachers’ Day ceremony.

He went on calling world leaders for action: “Governments must invest, unions must be heard, and social dialogue must flourish. We demand fair pay, secure contracts, robust initial training, continuous professional development, and safe working conditions. We demand that teachers shape the future they are entrusted to build.”

Towards an African Summit on the Teaching Profession

EI General Secretary David Edwards also proposed the creation of an Africa Summit on the Teaching Profession where education unions and Ministers of Education from across the continent come together, share insights and co-design policy.

“The mechanism of social dialogue must be institutionalized across Africa to translate the wisdom and insights of teachers and their unions into policy and practice,” he highlighted, saying that “we would be honored to partner with the African Union for an Africa specific version of the International Summit on the Teaching Profession.”

He was adamant that “around the world, the global education community has come to recognize that after trying every fad, so called reform, and technological fix, the one thing that they had yet to try was providing the tools, time, and trust to the teaching profession – the heart of education. Social dialogue not only works – it is fundamental to having a sustainable, effective, inclusive, and future-looking education system.”

He also acknowledged: “I am proud that so many Education International Africa leaders are here to learn from you and each other. It reminds us that it is imperative that we invest in teachers in this region.”

Unions pressing African governments to fulfil the right to quality education

On the eve of PACTED 2025, EIA organized a regional learning and strategy development event under the theme “Pressing African governments to fulfil the right to quality education”

Mariama Chipkaou, Education International Africa President, explained: “Each student, wherever they live, should have a qualified teacher, every day and every lesson. But severe underfunding has led to teachers becoming overworked, underpaid, and undervalued. Because of this, we are witnessing an exodus from our profession. Resignation rates are on the rise and the attrition rates among our new teachers are reaching unprecedented levels. We are also seeing a steep decline in the number of people who want to become teachers.”

The education union leaders from across Africa ended their meeting by adopting on 30 September 2025 a Statement on the urgent need to invest in education and teachers.

Reminding, among other, that “education is a fundamental human right and a public good and that governments are the duty bearers with an obligation to ensure that this right is available to all children, youth and adults” and that “EI and its member organizations fully support and will advocate for the full implementation of the African Union’s Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA) 2026 -2035 adopted in February 2025 with a specific focus on teachers, all levels of education, gender equality, equity and inclusion,” the statement also:

• Reaffirms the education unions’ resolve and commitment to lobby African governments to ensure quality public education for all by increasing domestic financing of education, including through fair and progressive taxation;
• Calls on international financial institutions, in particular the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to desist from imposing austerity measures and harmful loan conditionalities on African governments;
• Urges the United Nations, international and regional financial institutions and development partners to grant debt forgiveness to African countries;
• Urges African governments to meet or exceed the internationally agreed education financing benchmarks of at least 6% of GDP and/or at least 20% of the national budget, to invest in teachers and education support personnel, school infrastructure, , regulate and curtail the activities of for-profit private providers of education;
• Urges Governments to put in place functional mechanisms to ensure full implementation of the UN High Level Panel Recommendations on the Teaching Profession; and,
• Calls on Governments to ensure that the African Union’s Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA) 2026 -2035 is fully implemented.

At the closing of the week, EI participated in the official observance of World Teachers’ Day.

“Under the banner of the African Union launching the Decade of Education, we commit to a future where education is not a privilege but a right, where all children learn in dignity, taught by empowered, respected, and well supported teachers,” EI President said.

He also underlined that “we must bring the Santiago Consensus to life. When we recognize the teacher-student bond as common heritage, we refuse to let algorithms replace empathy, evaluations eclipse dignity, or budget cuts silence our calling. We proclaim that education is a human right anchored in compassion and competence.”

He concluded: “Without teachers there is no future. A funded public education system is our greatest investment in democracy, peace, and shared prosperity. Let us rise. Let us teach. Let us transform.”