EI Statement
We, teachers of the World
Expect that education authorities worldwide will implement the 1966 Recommendation on the Status of Teachers, as well as the 1997 Recommendation on the Status of Higher Education Personnel in order to bring the working conditions of teachers and the learning environment of students up to the required standards;
Demand that the right of every child to free quality publicly-funded education be guaranteed all over the world;
Urge intergovernmental organisations and their member states to fulfil their commitment to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, including Education For All, and to consider education as a public service and not a commodity;
Call upon governments to plan for the adequate supply of quality teachers to meet future needs and upon the international donor community to give their full support to this;
Appeal for the voices of teachers and their unions to be heard in the debate on quality education, as full professional partners in decision making processes and for constructive social dialogue practises to be developed in every nation and at all levels;
Take a pledge to work with a high degree of professionalism to assure quality education for all children in the world;
Insist that quality education can only be achieved with qualified teachers who have received highlevel initial training, have access to adequate in-service training and have at their disposal pedagogical means to enable them to act as professionals in education;
Oblige governments to take seriously their commitments to ensure equal pay and equal rights for women and to ensure their empowerment in the education setting, in decision making and in the workplace;
Note the role that we, the teachers of the world, have to play in securing a quality education of all children - a mission which cannot be achieved without the full support of national, regional and world communities.
