Australia and New Zealand need to do more to assist Pacific countries in addressing the 300,000 teachers needed in the Oceania region, says federal president of the Australian Education Union Angelo Gavrielatos.
Speaking at the Pacific Regional Dialogue on Go Public! Fund Education in Nadi, where discussions focused on the global teacher shortage crisis, he said countries such as Fiji, which lost an average of 600 teachers annually to the two countries must be assisted.
“Yes, 0.3 million does not sound like much when you compare it to 15 million of sub-Sahara Africa (and 44 million globally), but when you consider our island nations and our populations, 0.3 million in Oceania is a huge problem,” said Mr Gavrielatos.
“A report in local media on June 21 of this year identified that last year Fiji lost more than 600 teachers to Australia and New Zealand.
“What are they doing about it?”
Mr Gavrielatos said for many years, trade unions have only heard about the government’s plans, but very little had been done.
“I am getting tired because for so long we’ve had words. I’m tired of that.
“We make reference all the time of the SDGs, but I look back to 2015 when the world committed itself, in particular SDG 4, which is important to us.
“I look back at that time, world leader after world leader going to the podium to express their commitment and having their picture taken so that they could appear in the media in their home countries.
“They all made commitments, but something happens when they leave New York, and they come back, and those commitments seem to have evaporated.
“And it is because of that lack of commitment that we now face the crisis of 44 million because this has been building for many years.”
He added the chronic underinvestment in education and the teaching profession has brought the world to this crisis.
