30 March 2013

Urgent Press Release: Continued killings of teachers in Pakistan


March 30, 2013

Contact: Fred van Leeuwen, General Secretary, fred.vanleeuwen@ei-ie.org

Education International – representing 400 education unions in 173
countries with a total membership of 30 million teachers – is deeply
concerned about the recent attacks on teachers in Pakistan. The
assassination of a teacher of an all-girls school in the Khyber tribal
district on 25 March and the murder of the principal of the Baldia Town
school in Karachi earlier today (30 March), which are believed to be the
responsibility of a Taliban terrorist sect that opposes the education of
girls, has caused outrage among the teaching profession worldwide.
“We will not ever be intimidated by extremists, not in Pakistan and not
anywhere else where we are fighting to accomplish the right to education
of all children, girls and boys,” says Fred van Leeuwen, General
Secretary of Education International. “But we expect our communities
to stand up and support teachers when they are so brutally prevented
from implementing that right for their students.”
Worldwide, 32 million girls are still denied the right to education today.
This week’s attacks on teachers and schools are a stark reminder to the
world of the persistence of threats, intimidation, arson attacks and
sometimes even murder that are the weapons used in a war against
girls’ opportunity. Education International has urged the national
government of Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to trial
and to make every possible effort to ensure the safety and security of the
country’s educators and students.
Education International has lodged a formal complaint against these
acts of violence with the appropriate international agencies, including the
International Labour Organization in Geneva and UNESCO in Paris. The
organisation has welcomed the support of UN Secretary-General, Mr
Ban Ki-moon, and the UN Special Envoy on Global Education, Mr
Gordon Brown, who have already strongly condemned the acts of
violence.
In memory of the assassinated teachers Education International will
establish a special Scholarship Fund to promote girls’ education and
assist teachers and students victimised for their advocacy of girls’
education. The Fund will be officially launched at a ceremonial meeting
to be held in Pakistan in the coming weeks.

Education International is the voice of teachers and other education employees across the globe. A federation of about 400 associations and unions in more than 170 countries and territories, it represents 30 million educators in education institutions from early childhood to university.

EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL
5, Boulevard du Roi Albert II
B-1210 Bruxelles
Belgium
Phone: +32-2-224.0611
Fax: +32-2-224.0606
http://www.ei-ie.org

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