A Worldwide Cause
With posters, petitions to the U.S. Congress, and mock hearings and “teach-ins,” Education International and NEA ensured that this year’s Global Action Week (April 23–29) sent a clear, global message: Education is a human right. Unions worldwide spent the week calling for free, quality, basic education for all children by 2015. Advocates also created dossiers and gathered evidence of violations of children’s education rights, then presented them to governments around the world.
Ethiopian Teachers Freed
Three Ethiopian Teachers Association members jailed and tortured since last December were finally released in late March. The men suffered severe beatings while imprisoned, were never given an explanation for their arrest, and were taken into court more than 10 times without movement in their case. Their lives are still disrupted. When two of the teachers returned to their schools they were asked by administrators for proof they’d been in prison. Police refused to provide any such proof to the men.
Education International, of which NEA is a member, joined Amnesty International in pressuring Ethiopian leaders with a global letter-writing campaign and will continue to monitor the case.
Zimbabwe Strike Ends
Nearly 55,000 members of the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association were able to get back to the classroom after a strike prompted the government to increase wages. The lowest-paid teachers will receive a salary of about $93 per month under the new agreement.
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