Protesting outside the Ministry of Education last Year

Children from Fukushima, Japan are still being exposed to unacceptable levels of radiation, according to a report

The International Solidarity Labour Committee of Doro-Chiba says that 75% of Fukushima’s 360,000 children are still obliged to go to schools, which are higly contaminated by radiation. Fukushima was the site of the nuclear disaster following the tsunami in 2011 which destroyed the nuclear power plants and unleashed radiation into the area equivalent to 168 Hiroshima atomic bombs – according to the Doro Chiba report. The action group is calling on the government to evacuate all the families from the area and for compensation to be paid, both of which the government is refusing to do.

There has been a determined  campaign for justice for the people and particularly the children of Fukushima, with mothers from the area sitting in in front of the Ministry of Education in Tokyo and huge anti-nuclear rallies last September , where teachers were among those playing a leading role.

Their latest campaign is centred around the building of a clinic to treat the people of the area. Already children are presenting with symptoms resulting from their exposure to radiation such as impairment of heart and lung function, thyroid enlargement, headache, anaemia and compromised immune systems. A similar campaign to establish a health clinic took place in Hiroshima when the long term effects of the nuclear bomb were taking their toll on people’s health.

To contribute to the campaign or read the report in full go here

At the end of the report, the campaigners say: 

Children create the future. Children just must not live worrying about the radiation exposure. We really wish to establish a reliable health clinic where we can get together free from anxiety and consult with doctors whatever we want. It is a struggle to defend our own lives by unity and solidarity of all of us and to take back the medical care in our hands. It is a movement to stop and abolish all nuclear power plants immediately and create a society without any nuke.

We call on all friends of the world for your support and cooperation to establish a health clinic to save lives and look after health of 360,000 Fukushima children.

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Los Angeles Teachers Protest against Education Cuts

Professor Lois Weiner makes the case for transforming teachers’ unions in a new article

Weiner argues that teaching unions – both in the US and internationally are ‘the most stable and potentially powerful defender of mass public education’. However she argues that they are imperilled by the neo-liberal project which seeks to destroy public education, discipline and deprofessionalise teachers and destroy their unions. Education is trumpeted by governments – not least in the US – as the solution to the economic problems which are laying waste to societies. When this ‘solution’ is not delivered,  teaching unions and teachers are blamed.

She argues that if teaching unions are to not only survive this onslaught but to succeed in defending public education, it is necessary to make huge changes in the way they are organised and cites developments both in the Chicago and Los Angeles teaching unions, as pointing to the kinds of changes which are both possible and necessary.

At the same time she describes the dubious role, which the US teaching unions have played in furthering the agenda of US foreign policy globally. To access this important article, click here

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A campaign is being launched to support the teaching of Mexican-American Studies in Arizona, USA

In response to the Arizona state authorities banning the Mexican-American Studies programme in the Tucson school district, the network Teacher Activist Groups (TAG) has launched a campaign to promote the teaching of the programme throughout the US. They have called the campaign: No History is Illegal: A Campaign to Save our Stories and there is a website from which teachers can download ideas for lessons.

To read more about the background click here.

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Kenyan Teachers Protest

Teachers in Kenya are demanding that the government increase spending on education

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has given the government 2 weeks to enter talks on overdue allowances to cover housing, commuting and health as well as extra allowances for teachers working in the most difficult areas. These were all promised at the end of a dispute in 1997. They are also demanding increases for heads. senior teachers and special needs teachers and the employment of early years teachers. The union says that if Kenya is to have good guality education for all, the government needs to invest $4.78 billion.

Last year Kenyan teachers won a dispute to demand the regular employment of 18,000 thousand contract teachers.With classes as big as 100, this did not solve the 70,000 teacher shortage but did establish an important principle – that teachers should be hired on full time contracts, not exploited on low pay and precarious positions as contract teachers – a practice which is particularly promoted by the World Bank.

Nonetheless teachers’ pay is still a major problem with some teachers earning as little as $100 a month under conditions of raging inflation in the country. As one teacher said during the strike last September: “Even the kids know that we are marginalized and we are suffering, so we just told them — the issue is with the government and it’s not with you.”

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Queensland Teachers Strike in 2009

Teachers in the Australian state of Queensland are taking action against the introduction of school league tables

The Education Minister has taken the step of printing the league tables in the media – rating schools as outstanding, high, medium of low. As a result of this action the Queensland Teachers Union (QTU) have called on their members to boycott the so-called teaching and learning audits on which the rankings are based and these have now been suspended by the education department.

The state government justifies the tables on the basis of parental choice and ‘driving excellence and performance’ Teachers say that the league tables unfairly pit school against school and do not take into account any of the particular circumstances affecting different schools. The QTU points out that some of the schools on the list have ‘been through cyclones, floods or had very large turnovers of staff for example’.’

The same crude method of publishing league tables of schools – in this case based on their exam performance – has been used in England for many years and in Wales – which had previously opposed league tables ,a system of banding has been introduced. Welsh teachers who have always been proud of their neighbourhood school system fear that in tandem with massive spending cuts the future of many schools will be threatened.

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French Teachers striking last September  against  increased class sizes

French teachers went on strike again yesterday against 1000s of job cuts planned by the Sarkozy government

Teacher job losses could affect as many as 6,550 secondaryand 5,700 primary schools next September with 2,400 teaching assistants and special needs helpers also slated to lose their jobs. The unions are also striking against a new teacher evaluation process which would mean headteachers being solely responsible for assessing teacher performance. This work had previously been done by specially trained regional inspectors.

The strike is being called by SNES-FSU, SNALC and FO.  It is the third strike since last September against the  Sarkozy government’s attacks on education.

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 Mahdi ‘Issa Mahdi Abu Dheeb

The jailed Bahraini teachers’ leader, Mahdi ‘Issa Mahdi Abu Dheeb is being refused medical treatment despite his failing health

The Bahraini Teachers Assoication (BTA) president was sentenced to ten years in prison last September for his involvement in peaceful protests at the beginning of the year and his leadership of theBTA, whose members have faced suspension ,arbitrary arrest and in some cases detention and torture. The appeals of Mahdi ‘Issa Mahdi Abu Dheeb and Jalila al-Salman – the vice-President of BTA  heve been postponed till February 19th. Please go to this link: http://www.ei-ie.org/en/uaas/uaa_details/34 to send a message to the Bahraini authorities.

For more background on the case see previous posts

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The Anti Academies Alliance reported that 100 teachers, parents and pupils stood at the picket line, in the second strike this year against plans to turn it into an academy. The picketers demanded that the school be given increased funds and support rather than being forced into the hands of private sponsors.

But despite a petition of 700 signatures against the proposals, governors are continuing with their attempts to find a sponsor.

The academy programme, which puts education in the hands of private individuals and corporations, and takes schools out of nationally determined pay and conditions for teachers, was begun under the Labour government, and has been enthusiastically rolled-out under the current Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government – while there were 200 academies in the UK when they came to power, over 1000 have been created since.

A public meeting has been called on Thursday 26th January against turning the school into an academy. For more information and videos from the picket line see the Anti Academies Alliance website.

Also click here to read about a similar action at a London primary school earlier this month.

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Zimbabwean teachers, nurses and doctors continue their week-long strike today, demanding poverty line pay for the lowest paid workers.

Although union leaders called for a one day cessation of the strike yesterday while they negotiated with government, The Zimbabwean reports that most workers ignored the call, continuing to stay off work.

The negotiations failed, and the unions are now officially resuming their strike.

The strikers want a salary increase for those who are lowest paid up to the official poverty line. They also demand medical insurance and an allowance for those in rural areas.

The head of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe warned that the strike could be extended beyond Friday.

For background on this story see here.

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Holland’s largest teachers union is on strike today against a bill that will increase teachers’ working hours and cut their holidays. They are also protesting against cuts to special needs education, a salary freeze and the introduction of performance-related-pay.

The biggest Dutch teachers union, AOb, have said that 20,000 teachers are taking part in the strike, which will affect over 600 schools. There will also be a mass rally in Utrecht to protest the changes.

The teachers say that, without increased funding for more staff, the extra hours will mean students will be sat in classrooms without supervision. But despite protests of several thousand students in Amsterdam at the end of last year and a three day strike earlier this year by a smaller union, the bill has been passed through the lower house of parliament. The protests today aim to stop the bill from being passed by the Senate.

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