WSF Dakar convergence assemblies: Education Assembly

On February 10 and 11 took place the Convergence Assemblies *. Within a total of 38 assemblies there was the Education Assembly, in which ICAE had an active participation, as well as other organizations and networks working for the right to education.

Representing ICAE, Nicole Bidegain and Cecilia Fernández had the floor, and during the Assembly Ousman (graduated from IALLA and now a member of ANAFA – PALAAE), Ibro Oumarou (graduated from IALLA Francophone and now the Vice-president of ANCEFA), Safiatou Baldé (graduated from IALLA Francophone, Senegal) and Kaoutar Janah (graduated from IALLA Francophone, Marruecos) as well as Kasita and Muzinga from PALAAE Congo also took part.
We share with you the Statement of the Education Assembly where you will see that in point 9 of the specific linkage there is ICAE World Assembly (Malmö, Sweden, June 2011 / ):

WORLD EDUCATION FORUM ASSEMBLY

Translation by ICAE

POSITION PAPER (provisional draft not checked)

http://almanaquefme.org/?p=1087

AGENDA
1. The right to education as an essential human right and interlinked with the rest of the economic, social, political, cultural and environmental rights; (cross-cutting approach) some organizations have expressed their struggle for citizen education, democracy, environmental rights, new challenges of work, social justice, equality, within the framework of lifelong education.
2. Public education under the accountability of the State, lay and free, from early childhood education to university and lifelong education, the struggle for which is being done from trade union’s, parents and students’ perspectives and in general from the organized civil society linked to the public financing of education.
3. Inclusive education from all ethnic diversities, of gender, generational, of territory, of sexual orientation, of handicap, etc.
4. Struggle for Paulo Freire’s pedagogy and other pedagogical approaches based on local knowledge, popular and citizen education and history recovery.
5. Development of advocacy strategies in front of local and national governments, international organizations, against the privatization and merchandising of education
6. Strengthening of social movement that fights for education as a right
7. Against the impertinence of colonialist education, especially in African countries where it doesn’t recognize local knowledge and history.
8. Production of applicable, meaningful knowledge that responds to local contexts such as migration, displacement, war and all kinds of discrimination, including the right to education in one’s own language. There is an express demand to meet teachers and students’ conditions under war situations.
9. Decline of working conditions of people who work on education and of teaching conditions.
10. Situations linked to relevance (one’s own language, curriculum), access (inadequate facilities) and quality (education focused on human potentialities and in harmony with nature).
11. To frame the fight for the right to education within the framework of the crisis of the civilization model, promoting active citizenship and resistance against the model imposed from international organizations. Democratization of knowledge is a basic element of the democratization of society.
12. Provide significant and meaningful contents to the concepts of quality, accessible to all without discrimination, supportive and lifelong education.

GENERAL LINKAGES:
1. To fight against international organizations that promote the privatization of education, and advocate to search for resources to the social mobilization of quality education.
2. The possibility of exchanging pedagogic experiences and of social mobilization for the right to universal, inclusive and quality education.
3. Exchanging of knowledge in the field of education at all levels, both professional and of formal and informal education.
4. A process of strengthening of advocacy leaderships.
5. World networks offer access to material they have built together with social movements through their fights.
6. The union trade movement offers cooperation regarding advocacy, training, etc.

SPECIFIC LINKAGES:
7. A call to work from a gender perspective on education on the way to the international Conference
8. On the work towards Rio + 20: the role of education on development and environment subjects.
9. ICAE World Assembly (Malmö, Sweden, 14-17 June, 2011) *1
10. To promote dialogues for a possible world
11. To strengthen trade union partnership of the movement for education
12. To put pressure on governments for an education for social justice, to funding public education at all levels.
13. Coordination of parents’ organizations
14. Latin-American Congress of stdents in October in Uruguay, 45 anniversary of oclae (August 11)
15. Exchange of rights relating territory and local matters such as migration with subjects of right, access and quality of education
16. Free software, guarantee of broadband as a fundamental right of people, free knowledge
17. More linkage to the global action week promoted by the world campaign for education
18. To strengthen the experiences from higher university education for the right to education and the contribution to solve problems
19. To privilege face-to-face education
20.- Finally, the Assembly decided to communicate to the International Council of the WSF its deep and absolute rejection to the interference with freedom of expression suffered by the delegation of the People of Saharahui from agitators during this WSF.

* Initiated at the World Social Forum in Nairobi, this methodological proposal developed and, in the WSF in Belem in 2009 it was called the “thematic” assemblies. For Dakar WSF, these assemblies have in common the fact that they are “assemblies of convergence for action”, that is, moments in which organizations, networks and movements get together to jointly evaluate which convergences of action they will propose to strengthen, addressing the construction of that other world we want

*1 Place, date and bold added by ICAE

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