Students protesting in Swaziland last Year

Swazi teachers are to vote on strike action on June 6th and 7th

This is the latest move in a protracted struggle by the Swazi teachers for a decent salary and properly funded education, under conditions where the southern African country is ruled by an absolute monarch. King Mswati III  is at present visiting the UK with an entourage of 30 people for a dinner to celebrate the British queen’s jubilee. He is reported to be staying in the Savoy hotel where rooms cost $630 a night. Meanwhile one of his 13 wives is staying in a luxury hotel in South Africa at the Swazi people’s expense, while here son is treated in hospital because the Swazi health system is so impoverished. While the King and his entourage live it up, 70% 0f the Swazi people live in poverty.

The Swazi teachers union SNAT has been in the forefront of the struggle for democracy in that country along with the students. Many were arrested last year in protests inspired by the pro-democracy movement in the Middle East and North Africa. The Swazi government has already stopped one strike by the teachers this year by declaring it illegal. Now however the struggle continues as teachers go to vote on the new action.

Swaziland is named in the Annual Survey of Trade Union Rights as a state which violates workers’ rights to strike and assemble.

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Will Philly Close 80 Public Schools?: MyFoxPHILLY.com

Philadelphia teachers and pupils are facing the closure of 40 schools in a plan to increase privatisation in the US state

Reports of the numbers of schools slated for closure vary. While one report talks of 40 closures next year and 64 by 2017, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers says it has a list of 80 schools which the state government plans to close. Members of the union have been demonstrating and enlisting support from parents and local communities to save their schools and stop the wholesale transfer of pupils to so-called charter schools – essentially schools which have been privatised. Not only that but many teachers will be sacked – with potentially devastating effects on local communities. 

The developments in Philadephia are completely in line with the agenda promoted by groups like the Gates foundation and the Walton (Walmart) foundation – to run down public education and turn schools over to corporations. The schools – which will be predominately for children from the poorest and minority communities will have a dumbed down curriculum, staffed often by unqualified people such as those from Teach for America and subjected to the kind of mindless testing which is causing an uproar amongst teachers and parents across the US as the moment. Meanwhile teachers will be subjected to endless denigration and insecurity on the basis of test scores – as they are in New York and Los Angeles where individual teachers are splashed across the media if their pupils’ results in the educationally worthless tests are low for any reason.

The Obama administration, despite a more friendly rhetoric than that of George Bush, is promoting the same agenda through its so-called Race to the Top programme – which sees school districts bidding for funds on the basis of how many schools they privatise and how many public school teachers they sack. Part of the same agenda are the massive cuts which are hitting schools all over the USA.

As is so often the case, the US is leading the way in the scope of its neo-liberal reform of education – seeing education as competition or a ‘race’ – rather than a means to develop in children the critical thinking skills they need to be part of the struggle for a better and more socially just world.

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Students Protest in Quebec

The Education Minister in Quebec, Canada resigned yesterday as the student strike entered its 14th week

The resignation of the Education Minister, Line Beauchamp, leaves the right wing government of the province with a majority of one. Her resignation came amidst the continuing strike of students who are protesting fee increases which would see many young people being forced out of education. Amongst other things the students have blockaded banks, sent flying pickets to schools which remained open and blocked the port.

The police have attacked the demonstrators with tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray and many have been arrested including some minors. The students’ resolve to continue their fight for free public education shows no sign of abating as the political crisis in the country mounts.

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Democracy Protesters in South Korea last Year

The supreme court in South Korea has upheld hefty fines and suspended sentences against teachers for engaging in union action

The teachers are members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union and had signed a statement accusing the government of suppressing democracy. One of the teachers has also been suspended from his teaching post and is demanding that the government reinstate him.Teachers in South Korea are not allowed to be involved in collective action nor are they allowed to be active politically. Last year hundreds were charged with being involved with progressive political parties – those who were affiliated to the ruling party were not charged however.

The supreme court decision is the latest stage in a long struggle by teachers in South Korea – not only for democracy and the ability to take part in the political struggle in their country – but also against standardised testing which was reinstated by the present government of Lee Myung-Bak who came to power in 2008.

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Police attacking Protesting Teachers in Srinagar last Year

Teachers in Jammu and Kashmir in India struck last week along with other public sector workers

The teachers are demanding that their colleagues on temporary contracts – some since 1994 – be made permanent and for improved pay – in particular for early years (anganwadi) teachers. The teachers are also demanding that the government fill all teaching vacancies.

Last month scores of public service workers including teachers were injured when police attacked their demonstration in Srinagar, Jammu with batons and water cannon and many more were detained, according to reports. It seems that this police action was repeated last week, when the strikers attempted to rally at the civil secretariat – they were attacked by police and around 50 injured with some having to be hospitalised. The actions of the police have enflamed the situation and the leaders of the public sector workers are planning more strikes at the end of the month.

Leaders of the striking teachers and public servants say that the state government has reneged on firm promises it had given, including to pay arrears to its employees according to the recommendations of the sixth pay commission. Last summer contract teachers in Kashmir went on hunger strike to demand  the regularisation of their work.

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Campaigning against ‘Pink Slips’ in California

Teachers in San Francisco have voted 97% in favour of strike action against cuts

The San Francisco school district is planning to cut $30 million from teachers’ pay and benefits and increase class sizes. Speaking about the meeting where the strike vote was held, the President of the United Educators of San Francisco (UESF) told the Huffington Post: “Last night the teachers of San Francisco sent a message loud and clear to the San Francisco Unified School District. It is time for the district to stop seeking unilateral cuts and sweeping program changes, and to start treating the teachers and paraprofessionals with respect and to recognize what we have done to keep this district afloat.”

The problem is not limited to San Francisco – 20,000 teachers across the state of California have received so-called ‘pink slips’ which are a warning notice that their jobs are in jeapordy because of spending cuts. This is the fourth year in a row that this has happened, causing huge disruption to schools and demoralisation and worse to teachers, who are uncertain whether they will have a job in the next school year.

However teachers, parents and students across California have mounted strong campaigns against the cuts, including a march across the state. This time last year, 27 teachers were arrested after occupying the capitol building.

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Campaign Song against Academy Status in London

Teachers in Birmingham, UK are balloting for strike action over government moves to force their schools to become ‘academies’

13 primary schools in Birmingham are being forced by the right wing coalition education secretary Michael Gove to become academies. This is the name for schools in England which are taken out of local democratic control and put in the hands of private individuals, charities or corporations – very much like the so-called charter schools in the US. Schools which become academies do not have to follow national pay and conditions – nor is there any form of local accountability and although the first schools to convert received considerable extra cash – this was not shown to improve education, even by the government’s own flawed criteria - indeed some academies are deemed to be ‘failing’ by the inspection service.

Now Gove is forcing schools to become academies against the wishes of the parents, teachers and governors. Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) said, 

“Forced academies have nothing to do with raising standards of education.There is no evidence at all to support the notion that changing the status of a school will transform the educational attainment of its pupils.The majority of the school communities in Birmingham do not support this move.The local authority needs to listen to the people who elected them.”

The NUT teachers are balloting for action along with their colleagues in the other main teaching union the NAS/UWT. Teachers and parents are also campaigning against forced academy status in London and many other parts of the country. The academisation of schools in England is part of a move to free schools up for privatisation, attack teachers’ pay and conditions and weaken teachers’ unions - who in England as in many parts of the world are leading the fight for public education.

To read more about the fight against academies in England go to the website of the Anti-Academies Alliance.

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Demonstration against Cuts in Spain last Month

There will be a national strike of teachers’ unions in Spain on 22nd May to protest education cuts

The right wing government of Mariano Rojay is planning a 25 – 30% cut in the education budget, which will have a particularly harsh impact on early years education, teacher training and rural schools. The unions are also protesting against a hike in fees for higher education and are demanding free university education for all.

The cuts will also mean a huge increase in class sizes – up to 36 in secondary schools and even 46 in sixth form colleges. Substitute teachers to cover the first two weeks of teacher absence will also be cut.

The May 22nd strike is the latest manifestation of opposition to the austerity measures being forced on the Spanish people – particularloy in health and education in order to meet the demands of bond traders and bankers. Unemployment amongst young people in Spain is now over 50%. Young people and teachers have been in the forefront of protests which have been taking place in many cities across Spain over the last few months.

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Madagascar Teachers demonstrating last Month

Teachers in Madagascar have been on strike for almost two months according to reports

The teachers who work in Madagascar’s secondary schools and colleges are on strike for improved housing and other allowances which their union says are grossly inadequate to meet their needs. With inflation high in Madagascar, the teachers get less than $1 a month housing allowance – an amount which needs increasing to $46. The leader of the SEMPAMA teachers’ union says that the derisory levels of remuneration make Madagascar’s teachers, the most miserably paid of all public servants.

This week the union has rejected an offer of a 5% increase in allowances, which the union says the government can keep – it will carry on with its strike. In addition to striking, teachers have demonstrated in front of the education ministry, an area which they have christened ‘La Place de 90 Ariary ($0.5)’ – referring to their miniscule allowance.

 Madagascar had been under the tutelage of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) until a political crisis in 2009 lead them to withdraw from the country. They enforced policies of privatisation and liberalisation, with the usual consequences of cuts to the public sector including education, under conditions where only 11% of Madagascar’s children are enrolled in secondary education – one of the lowest figures in the world. From 2009 the IMF froze all aid to the country, putting further strain on public sector budgets. Meanwhile corporations are circling the island, with its potential rich pickings from oil, cobalt, nickel, gold and uranium deposits and tourism.

On Saturday, the disputed government of Andry Rajoelina threatened the striking teachers that if they did not return to work this week, their contracts would be terminated and their salaries stopped. Local authorities have been ordered to reopen the schools and take a register of the teachers turning up. The government is also proposing to hire substitute teachers to replace those on strike. The government has threatened the teachers with the security forces if they do not obey. A spokesperson for the teachers said: « Nous n’allons pas retourner en classe avec ces 5% de contre-proposition. Cette déclaration est la preuve que le ministre souhaite le conflit dans le pays. Au lieu de négocier, il sème la terreur ». (We will not return to work with this 5% offer. This declaration [from the government] is the proof that the minister is hoping for conflict in the nation. Instead of negotiation, he is sowing terror). Teachers have promised parents and students, worried about their children’s exams that they will complete them as soon as their demands are met.

Solidarite aux enseignants de Madagascar!

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Teachers demonstrating in Peshawar this Week

Teachers in the tribal areas of Pakistan demonstrated again this week against the non-payment of their salaries and the lack of permanent contracts

The teachers work in community schools run by the Federal Aministration of Tribal Areas (FATA) in some of the most difficult places in the world – where an insurgency is raging – not only that but some of them have not been paid for 19 months and they are still on temporary contracts.

The funding for FATA was originally paid by aid agencies, and according to one report was set up to provide education at low cost. Very low as it turned out –  with teachers not being paid and in many cases no school buildings and classes having to take place in local mosques. According to the same report, teaching in the community areas was a ’labour of love’ for teachers – some of whom had to travel two hours every day to reach their pupils. One told the Tribune : “Classes are conducted in a mosque because there is not enough space available for all the students. That may not be a problem much longer since we keep losing students due to the insurgency, which has scared many of them into not coming. I have not been paid in six months. But I still love teaching. I love spreading knowledge to my students.”

Nearly 2000 teachers are affected. Last month they set up protests outside FATA offices in Peshawar and were assured that they would be given permanent contracts and their other grievances would be addressed. However it seems that this has not happened since reports indicate that they are protesting again this week.

Report after report from the World Bank blames teachers for the fact that their Millennium Development Goal for universal primary education is not being met – most recently in their document Making Schools Work. This is the second example from Pakistan we have reported recently on this website of teachers not receiving any salary – the last was in November, some primary school teachers in the country were threatening suicide because their salaries were not paid. Teachers all over Pakistan and the global south carry on working day after day in intolerable conditions because as the teacher quoted above said, they love spreading knowledge to their students. Their denigration by organisations such as the World Bank serves the interest of neo-liberal education policy which all over the world is spreading privatisation and a reductionist education for the poor.

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