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EI International Conference on Higher Education:

The International Conference on Higher Education organised by Education International in UNESCO's Headquarters 19-21 March 1997 in Paris was attended by more than 100 participants from over 40 countries.

The Conference was opened by EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen, who drew attention to the importance of this area of education and the work done for the Conference by member unions involved in this sector. Education International represents 650,000 persons working in higher and further education. The General Secretary insisted on academic freedom and institutional autonomy, and on the political responsibility of the states to provide sufficient funding for higher education and research, adding: "we must work together (...) toward the development of quality higher education; this is a prerequisite to the preparation of a democratic, interdependent society for the third millennium."

There were also stimulating opening statements from Colin N. Power, UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Education, Professor Justin Thorens of the University of Geneva and Professor Georges Haddad, advisor to UNESCO's Director-General. Colin Power emphasized the importance of the work on the Draft Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel, and the contribution of EI and its affiliates. He hoped for approval of the document before the end of the year.

A second plenary session involved spokespersons from the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic and Cooperation Development (OECD) and UNESCO, discussing current problems in higher education and solutions, from the perspective of their organisations. The issues included the developing concept of lifelong learning, the effects of the massive growth of student numbers in many countries and the balance between expenditure on basic and higher education in developing countries.

The third plenary session, chaired by EI Coordinator for Education Monique Fouilloux, consisted of a round table on the Draft UNESCO Recommendation. Alongside outside contributors Dimitri Beridze of UNESCO and Bill Ratteree of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), were representatives of member unions -- Elago Elago of Namibia, Luis Londoño Zapata of Colombia and Dominique Lassarre of France.

Many representatives particularly valued the work which took place in no fewer than nine (multilingual) working groups. The topics ranged from quality to distance learning, from governance to the labour market and from institutional autonomy to conditions of employment (see Monitor Vol 4 No 1). The results will be taken into account in the future work of EI in this sector.

On the final day, Gerd Köhler, Chair of EI's Higher Education Standing Sectoral Committee, outlined the general conclusions of the Conference and Elie Jouen, Deputy General Secretary, commented in the final session on behalf of Education International. He concluded with an appeal to all participants to spread the word within their own circles about the problems, issues and solutions debated during these three days. The EI Committee will be invited to formulate proposals to strengthen our policies and strategies before the next World Congress taking place in July 1998, a few months before UNESCO's World Conference on the theme "Higher Education in the 21st Century". The proceedings of the EI Conference will be published in the near future by the EI Secretariat.
 

REGIONS

EUROPE

Vocational Education Seminar for Central and Eastern European members

Education International invited its Central and Eastern European members to a seminar on vocational education and training in Brussels, April 25 and 26, 1997. The two-day program included a review of activities in EI's European Committee and Standing Sectoral Committee, in the European Union (PHARE Programme), and in the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE). Group discussions were planned to examine a variety of topics from the role of authorities, employers and unions, teacher training, and funding, to issues such as social partnership, participation and globalisation. Participants had the opportunity to attend an ETUCE colloquium in The Netherlands on 28 and 29 April. The next regular meeting of the EI standing sectoral committee on vocational education and training is scheduled for the end of May 1997.

LATIN AMERICA

One-week subregional seminar on the status of women in Central America

The status of women teachers and education workers in México and Central America was examined during a week-long subregional seminar, organised 3 to 7 March 1997 in Mexico City, by Education International with the cooperation of the Canadian Teachers' Federation (CTF/FCE, Canada) and Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (SNTE, Mexico).

Some 24 national and regional leaders from our Mexican affiliate and 42 participants representing all EI member organisations in other Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala,Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama) shared experiences and concerns about the neo-liberal policies applied by the region's governments to education systems. Guest speakers made presentations on "Gender, Equity and Education", "HIV/AIDS, the workplace and Human Rights", "International Standards and Labour & Union Rights"; Professor Humberto Dávila Esquivel talked about the contribution of women teachers to Mexican trade unionism. Working groups studied various strategies and projects to improve the situation of women and develop a gender perspective in education and unions. Education International was represented by Marta Scarpato, Coordinator for equality issues, and Napoleón Morazán, Chief Coordinator for Latin America. Steps are being taken, as recommended by the Harare Congress, to organise similar events in other regions.

Global Youth Action Week, 2-6 June 1997

Declining membership is one of the major challenges of the future for the trade union movement. With this in mind, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) proposes to hold an annual Global Youth Action Week, starting 2 June 1997, and recommends that all affiliates should observe at least one day of this week as an action day. "It is important to invite young women and men to take part in forming the future trade union movement", says the ICFTU. The campaign aims to create a better environment for recruiting and organising young people. The main target group will be youngsters between 18 and 25 who are working, in education, or in training. Students younger than 18 could also be included in the target group. Trade unions are invited to arrange open meetings on topics of interest to young people, distribute pamphlets, arrange marches, send letters to newspapers, put up posters where young people are most likely to see them, invite them to a union workplace meeting, and why not let young trade unionists try to run the union during the week... Some material will be available from ICFTU regional offices and Headquarters (same address as EI). Let us know about your initiatives.
 

EDUCATION

As agreed in their September 1996 meeting (see Monitor Vol 4 / 1), members of the pre-school and primary education standing sectoral committee met in Brussels April 8-9, 1997, to discuss their proposals on the three common themes developed by all EI sectoral committees.

Regarding the impact of the social environment on quality schooling, violence was seen as a serious and growing problem even in early years education; this topic was added to the agenda of their next session to take place 13-14 January, 1998. On financing of education, participants insisted on the importance of higher salaries and better working conditions to attract and keep qualified teachers; privatisation, competition between schools, insufficient resources, decentralisation, lack of government commitments were also indicated as areas of concern.

Members of the committee expressed the need for more information on (national, provincial, municipal) education budgets. The participants also asked for EI and other general documentation to be accessible on Internet. Concerning the teachers' role in the implementation of education reform, the committee stressed, among other things, the importance of quality public education and the need to remind governments about their obligations as expressed in international conferences.

An international seminar with the World Bank was organised in Brussels in May 1996 for EI Executive Board members, Chief regional coordinators and affiliates from countries where stringent structural adjustment policies affect the education sector (see Monitor Vol 3 / 5). On 6 March 1997, another seminar planned by EI took place in Washington D.C. for staff from the World Bank Education Department. The main objective for EI was to provide information on the principles and aims of our International, and in particular to make a presentation of our orientations and strategies on education.

EI's delegation was composed of President Mary Hatwood Futrell, Deputy General Secretary Elie Jouen, Education Coordinator Monique Fouilloux, Bob Harris (consultant to the General Secretary) and representatives of our two USA affiliates, AFT and NEA.

Opinions were exchanged about the World Bank's draft study on "Management of Teachers" which EI had been invited to review. Our spokespersons' comments were based on the views expressed in the January 1997 Executive Board.

The agenda of this meeting also allowed for a presentation of EI's activities in the higher education sector such as the international conference organised in UNESCO's Headquarters 19-21 March 1997 (see cover page). Other EI/World Bank meetings on more specific topics should take place in coming months.

HUMAN and TRADE UNION RIGHTS

"Even this teachers federation also push East Timor. Why?" asked Indonesia's Foreign Minister during a meeting in New York in 1995, upset by EI's campaign of opposition to the Indonesian regime's repressive policy in East Timor; this incident, reported by the Australian Education Union followed a joint initiative by Education International, AEU and the Portuguese teachers' unions. The Minister's frustration showed that the pressure mounted by our organisations had an effect at the highest levels. "Of course, there's still a long way to go, but the message is that we can make a difference and we do have an effect" commented an AEU official.

Such testimonies are heard regularly by EI's human and trade union rights coordinators. In the last 18 months, the Secretariat received close to a hundred copies of letters* on Ethiopia's case alone (see EI Magazine September 1996). In addition, some 120 New Year greeting cards were sent by EI affiliates directly to Dr Woldesmiate's prison in Addis Ababa. We were informed that our colleague's conditions of detention have now improved and that the most severe charges against him (attempted assassination, kidnaping, terrorism, etc) were dismissed by the Court on February 28, for lack of sufficient evidence. A previous campaign against a similar situation in 1995 had ultimately resulted in Dr Woldesmiate' release.

The more than 200 copies of letters mailed to EI in recent months dealt with violations of rights in Ethiopia, Djibouti, Korea, Turkey and Colombia (see previous Monitors).

Amongst other things examined to best support the Ethiopian Teachers Association (ETA), EI is organising a mission to Ethiopia from 19 to 24 May 1997. While we are heartened that the most serious charges against ETA President Dr Taye Woldesmiate have been dismissed, he remains in prison pending the hearing of the remaining charges and ETA's bank account is still frozen and their branch offices have all been closed and confiscated. The purpose of the mission is to monitor the situation of trade union and human rights as they affect teachers, education workers generally and students, to make an assessment of the impact on the quality education the Government's current policies are having and to provide visible international support to our ETA colleagues.

Acting on behalf of SEP and SYNESED (Djibouti), EI has lodged a formal complaint to the ILO detailing the extent to which the Djiboutian Government has breached the Conventions on freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining (see Monitor Vol 4 ? 1). In this process, the ILO requires the Government against whom these accusations have been made to respond to the union claim before making any recommendations on the case. This may take some time - and meanwhile active teacher unionists in Djibouti need all the support we can give them. Our thanks to the affiliates who have already sent letters of protest, but we need many more affiliates to do the same if we are to be in any way effective. If your organisation hasn't already answered the urgent action appeal of February 1997, please organise for someone to write that letter immediately! And don't forget to send us a copy.

Education International is requesting member organisations to once again demonstrate their solidarity with teachers in Korea who simply want the right to belong to a union and to bargain collectively (see previous issue). Following the tremendous efforts by Korean workers earlier in 1997, some important gains have been achieved. However, the Government still refuses to allow teachers and public servants to belong to a union. At the most recent meeting of the ILO Governing Body (end of March 1997) the conclusions on the Korean situation were unequivocal - the Korean Government must recognize the teachers' right to unionise. Teachers who were recently elected to branch, regional or national leadership positions in CHUNKYOJO have been threatened with disciplinary action including loss of jobs and even imprisonment. Our active support is essential as the members of CHUNKYOJO continue the difficult struggle for a fundamental right.

The latest information received from Colombia indicates that an agreement had been reached between the government and state employees on the depenalisation of social protest and on collective bargaining in the public sector in accordance with ILO conventions 151 and 154 on labour relations. Concerning the horrendous murder rate of teachers (see Monitor Vol 4/2), the Government says it is setting up a Commission with representation of unions and human rights groups, to review the situation and bring forward recommendations.

In most cases our efforts are clearly bearing fruit; in some, governments seem to be at a loss to know how to respond e.g. an acknowledgment from Lesotho's Prime Minister's Office: "In resolving issues of a national magnitude it is sometimes essential that a synergetic outlook be adopted whereby the overall national good or the macro benefit has to be of paramount consideration over the narrowly focused micro interest". Translation, please?

*BNTU (Belize), FESER (Cameroun), GEW (Germany), ELA/STV (Spain), AUT, NUT, EIS, NASUWT, TUC, CTA (UK), NEA, AFL-CIO (USA), CTERA (Argentina), NTEU (Australia), CTF (Canada), CMOS-PS, TUWSR (Czech Republic), FECODE (Colombia), ANDE, SEC (Costa Rica), DLF (Denmark), EEPU (Estonia), SNETAA, FEN, SNES, SGEN (France), INTO, ASTI (Ireland), MUT (Malta), NNTA (Nepal), Laereförbundet, NUT, NL (Norway), PPSTA (Philippines), ACUT (Sri Lanka), Läraförbundet (Sweden), PTTI, FIET, IMF (Switzerland), SET (Chad), FED.MYFEP (Uruguay), NFTA (Bangladesh), ICFTU (Belgium), PSI (France), AISTF (India), KTU (Korea), SNE-CDT (Morocco), ABOP (The Netherlands), ESEUR (Russia), OZPSaV (Slovakia), SNAT (Swaziland),T&TUTA (Trinidad and Tobago), ZIMTA, ZITU (Zimbabwe), A&BUT (Antigua & Barbuda), CPC (Chile), FTU (Fiji), SEENA (Gabon), HKPTU (Hong Kong), NNUT (Kenya), NZEI, NZPPTA (New Zealand), SNEN (Niger), PNGTU (Papua New Guinea), NSZZ (Poland), CHAKIWATA (Tanzania), EGITIM-SEN (Turkey), GTU (Gambia), SINTA (Solomon Islands).

The International Labour Organisation's Committee on Freedom of Association accused 20 countries of continued abuse of trade union rights. Among the list of countries cited by the ILO are Colombia, Nigeria and Sudan, where trade unionists suffer every form of intimidation and abuse. In many instances they have been murdered. Acting on the complaints raised by the international trade union movement, the Committee appealed to South Korea to allow a high-level mission to visit the country to observe the changes being introduced in the labour legislation and to determine whether these are compatible with the principles of freedom of association. The Committee also called for the release of Korean trade union activists.

Overall, the Committee considered 73 cases of infringement of trade union rights in 41 countries. Its latest report ( 306, March 1997) presents definitive conclusions on 14 complaints and interim conclusions on 10 complaints. Cases reviewed involved Nigeria, Swaziland, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ethiopia, India, Pakistan, Peru, and Romania. The Committee's recommendations were adopted unanimously by the ILO Governing Body in its session of 26 March 1997.

The Committee on Freedom of Association, established in 1951, oversees compliance with the fundamental principles of freedom of association, which guarantee, inter alia, the right of workers to organize and to engage in collective bargaining. It meets three times a year and consists of 3 government representatives, 3 employer representatives and 3 worker representatives.
 

WOMEN

Education International (represented by Deputy General Secretary Sheena Hanley and Coordinator for equality issues Marta Scarpato) took part in the forty-first session of the women's Commission and related NGO meetings, 3-21 March 1997 in New York. In keeping with the Beijing Platform for Action (seeMonitor Vol 3 ? 1 for full text), much attention was given in the agreed conclusions on special efforts to reduce the female illiteracy rate to at least half its 1990 level. Governments and all other actors were invited to achieve the benchmarks set in the 1995 Beijing Declaration of universal access to basic education and completion of primary education by at least 80 per cent of primary school-age children by the year 2000; to close the gender gap in primary and secondary-school education by the year 2005; to provide universal primary education in all countries by the year 2015; and to consider providing multilateral and bilateral assistance. The Commission on the Status of Women (which comprises 45 members) is the only intergovernmental body devoted to women's advancement. The next meeting of EI's Status of Women Committee is scheduled June 26-27. More information in the next EI Magazine.

PUBLICATIONS

The latest publication of the Eurydice network reviews numerous changes in compulsory education over a decade in 18 European countries. Structures, responsibilities, administration, programs, teacher training & working conditions, inequalities, testing & evaluation are some of the topics highlighted in this 300- page comparative study. Available in French "Dix années de réformes au niveau de l'enseignement obligatoire dans l'union européenne (1984-1994)" ISBN 2-87116-254-9, English "A decade of Reforms at Compulsory Education Level in the European Union (1984-1994)" and Spanish "Una década de reformas en la educación obligatoria de la Unión Europa (1984-1994)", and soon in German (August 1997). More information at Eurydice, rue d'Arlon 15, 1050 Brussels, Belgium (Fax +32 2 230 6562 E- mail: eurydice.uee@infoboard.be) and on the European Commission's Europa server: http://europa.eu.int

A steadily ageing global population means that there are more opportunities over time for chronic diseases (such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and rheumatic conditions, and mental and neurological disorders) to progress to a deadly or disabling stage in a larger number of people. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), already more than 24 million people a year are killed by chronic diseases - equal to almost half of all deaths in the World. The World Health Report 1997 (issued 5 May 1997) identifies priorities for international action intended to improve the ability to prevent, treat, rehabilitate and where possible, cure major noncommunicable diseases, and reduce the enormous suffering and disability that they cause. More information on Internet: http://www.who.ch/

The World Health Report 1997 - Conquering suffering, enriching humanity. WHO, Geneva, 1997. ISBN 92 4 156185 8. Price 15 Swiss francs; in developing countries 9SF.
 

World Employment Report 1996/1997 - National Policies in a Global Context. ILO, Geneva, 1996. 200 pp. ISBN 92-2-110326-9. 35Sw.frs.; US$31.50; £18.90. Also available in French L'emploi dans le monde 1996/97 - Les politiques nationales à l'heure de la mondialisation, ISBN 92-2-210326-2 and Spanish El empleo en el mundo 1996/97 - Las políticas nacionales en la era de la mundialización ISBN 92-2- 310326-6. For more information, contact ILO Publications, or visit the Internet at: http://www.ilo.org

EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL AWARDS
 

First September 1997 is the deadline to send nominations (on the appropriate forms mailed to affiliates in December 1996) for the EI Education Award and the EI Human and Trade Union Rights Award. The winners will be selected by an Executive Board Committee; the two prizes will be awarded in July 1998 at the 2nd Education International World Congress at the Sheraton Washington Hotel in Washington D.C. Contact the EI Secretariat in Brussels for more information.