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Education officials call for increased awareness about recruitment protocol

27 April 2007

East African Working Group to deepen implementation of the Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol

Education officials from Commonwealth countries across East Africa have called for increased awareness about the Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol, which seeks to balance the rights of teachers to migrate internationally on temporary or permanent basis against the need to protect the integrity of national education systems.

Following a conference held in Tanzania from 16 to 18 April 2007, officials noted that East African countries were at various stages of implementing the Protocol, but recommended that an inclusive working group be established to deepen the process.

“The increasing international migration of skilled professional teachers has become a major concern, particularly for countries trying to maintain national schooling systems and striving to reach the goals of universal primary education by 2015,” Dr Roli Degazon-Johnson, Adviser, Education Section, at the Commonwealth Secretariat, said.

“The aim of the conference on the role of the Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol was to identify issues and concerns with teacher mobility and retention in East Africa,” she added.

The conference brought together senior education officials and teachers union leaders from Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda and Tanzania. It was jointly organised by Tanzania’s Ministry of Education and Vocational Training and the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Social Transformation Programmes Division.