Over 1,500 teachers rally at 10th Education International Congress against right-wing attacks on public education

The 10th World Congress of Education International, took place at the Buenos Aires Convention Centre this week, concluding on Friday, August 2.

The conference takes place every four years in different countries, and on this occasion, brought together over 1,500 teacher delegates from around the world. Education International (EI) represents 33 million teachers from 178 countries.

This year, right-wing attacks on public education - and their attempts to defund and privatize education - were at the top of the agenda.

“At a time of attacks on public education, of defunding and cuts, the fact that Education International has decided to hold this World Congress in Argentina, in support of the struggle of teachers, is fundamental,” Eduardo Pereyra, Secretary of International Relations of the Confederation of Education Workers of the Argentine Republic (CTERA), said.

The country's federal education budget - an already-modest US$8 billion in 2023 - has been cut by half in real terms, according to the Argentine Center for Political Economy (CEPA), since the far-right Javier Milei administration took office eight months ago.

Education trade unions worldwide are likewise advocating for fully funded, inclusive public education systems to counter the rising tide of far-right nationalism and authoritarianism.

Jennifer Moses of the United Kingdom's NASUWT framed the discussion by highlighting the significant progress made in human rights over the past decades. However, she warned of the current pushback and violence from anti-rights and anti-gender movements driven by far-right political groups.

“These actors promote a narrow, hierarchical, and patriarchal vision of gender relations,” Moses explained. “They counter what they perceive as threats to national well-being, arising from feminism, social justice movements, and LGBTI+ rights.”

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Educators congregate at the 10th World Congress of Education International in Buenos Aires this week.

Right-wing attacks on public education - and their attempts to defund and privatize education - were at the top of the agenda this year.

Argentina, where the conference was held, has become a poster child of far-right assaults on public education, with federal education budgets cut by half in real terms - at a time when an economic "Mileise" brought about by the same regime has reportedly forced tens of thousands of parents to transfer their children from the private to the already-overburdened public system.