France: Unions stress national and global need to prioritise education | WPN World People News

Education International’s French affiliates capitalised on World Teachers’ Day to stress the importance of education remaining both a national and global priority, while renewing their calls for increased investment.

The Syndicat national des enseignements de second degré-Fédération syndicale unitaire (SNES-FSU) and the Union nationale des syndicats autonome-Education (UNSA Education) also reaffirmed their commitment to improving public education.

"The SNES-FSU of France believes that investing in quality public education for all means investing in qualified, well trained and better paid teachers," said Odile Cordelier, National Secretary of the SNES-FSU, Head of the International sector and EI Vice President of the Europe region, the European Trade Union Committee for Education. "It means providing students with all the tools to succeed in their studies and to thrive as free and informed citizens. Long live quality education in France and around the world!"

SNES-FSU: Secondary education staff a priority

At its National Council on 9-10 September, the SNES-FSU worked toward enhancing the status of secondary education teaching staff, an essential element for increasing the attractiveness of the profession, and the union has made this sector a major focus of its actions in the near future. It also noted the urgency need to enhance salaries and working conditions for all secondary education teaching staff.

The union’s actions will also form part of the ETUCE and EI campaign for quality public educationin Europe. SNES-FSU also believes that student success is linked to teachers' working conditions.

UNSA Education: No education for 57m children worldwide

Meanwhile, UNSA Education also marked World Teachers’ Day by highlighting that, in 2014, 57 million children across the world - 53 per cent of whom are girls - still do not have access to education and that the level of illiteracy remains constant.

"Everyone must continue to mobilise in order to ensure that education remains a global priority," said UNSA Education Secretary General Laurent Escure, a member of Education International's (EI) Executive Board. "Like EI, UNSA Education has called on the member states of the United Nations to renew their commitment to providing free and universal quality public education so that it may remain at the centre of the new post-2015 global development agenda."

Education a priority for post-2015 global development agenda

Education International is committed to the belief that public authorities, in France and throughout the world, must guarantee sufficient funding for free, public education accessible to all. "Education, which is a key factor in the just and sustainable development of societies, must remain at the centre of the post-2015 global development agenda," EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen.

Source: Education International