akademikmalaysia: 8th Education International World Congress, Bangkok, Thailand

The 8th. Education International World Congress that was held in Bangkok, Thailand were divided into the pre-congress sessions which ran from 19 – 21 July 2019 and the congress which ran from 22 – 26 July 2019. There were three main caucuses for the pre-congress sessions, namely the LGBTI Caucus, the Further and Higher Education Caucus, the Indigenous People’s Caucus, and the Women’s Caucus.

At the LGBTI Caucus, various issues were raised including the need for acceptance, awareness, and equity of LGBTI in schools, particularly in how the students and teachers who belong to the community are treated. There have been cases of bullying and discrimination in some countries while there were also success stories shared by some. The concept of Intersectionality was also introduced where participants were reminded of the many layers or Intersectionality that one has. In more conservative and religious countries like Malaysia, it is more important to advocate for the basic right of the LGBTI community to be treated respectfully without discrimination.

For the Further and Higher Education Caucus, discussions revolved around the threat of neoliberalism, political and corporate interference into higher education which privatization and commercialization. Due to lack of funding allocated by governments, many institutions of higher learning resort to precarious employment, which in return affect the bargaining power of the precarious staff, and also the quality of education and research. Various strategies were shared on how to address the issues raised including strengthening the network of unions.

The Women’s Caucus kicked off with a forum where 2 guest speakers spoke of their own experiences and aspirations as women leaders in the region: 1. Rashidah Shuib of the Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women, who is also from Sister in Islam. 2. Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, also from the Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women. The day continued with various parallel roundtable sessions covering topics such as women and leadership, regional perspective of women unionists, and resolutions through a gender lens.

The congress went on for 5 days from 22 July to 26 July where 1400 educators from across the globe convened with the theme “Taking the Lead”. The president, Susan Hopgood called on all members to take the lead in bringing about changes so that education is made available and accessible to all. Among the main themes that were highlighted throughout the 5-day congress were neo-liberalism being a threat to democracy, Intersectionality, the importance of union renewal and succession through younger unionists, equity in education as a basic human right, social justice, women & leadership, and climate change. It was highlighted throughout the congress that the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4: “to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” has not been achieved in most if not all countries, and that all parties especially governments are urged to ensure that the goal is achieved.

A total of 41 resolutions, either pertaining to constitutional amendments or current urgent actions, were presented at the congress where some were passed while others rejected. GERAK was entitled to 2 votes for the resolutions where we exercised our rights in voting for (or against) the resolutions. While many of the resolutions presented were on universal education rights, two particular resolutions relevant to GERAK’s aspirations were “Academic Freedom in Higher Education” and “Safeguarding Academic Freedom in Higher Education and Research”. On behalf of GERAK, Dr Lai Suat Yan and Dr Yuwana Podin went on stage to show solidarity with two urgent resolutions on academic freedom and democracy in Djibouti and Hong Kong.

Throughout the congress, all three representatives, Dr Lai Suat Yan, Dr Ngo Sheau Shi, and Dr Yuwana Podin of GERAK have been very active in participating in discussions of various topics in the different sessions. Dr Lai Suat Yan was invited as one of the speakers in the session “Teachers as autonomous professionals” and a moderator in the session “No to Harassment at Work”. Dr Ngo Sheau Shi was actively participating in discussions and even helped to prepare statements in supporting some of the resolutions. Dr Yuwana Podin, being GERAK’s principal delegate this time, was appointed as one of the election committee members representing the Asia-Pacific region in overseeing the executive board member election process. She also participated in the election process.

In terms of networking, Dr Lai Suat Yan is exploring with David Robinson from the Canadian Association of University Teachers possible capacity building workshops in relation to deep organizing or engaging others to join GERAK and academic staff associations. In addition, a possible workshop is to build activist skills in terms of bargaining, filing grievances, creating attractive visual materials, making effective smartphone movies and communicating through the media which we, GERAK exco, could be co-trainers. Another possibility is a workshop on equity and diversity. This will be presented to the GERAK exco for consideration in the coming meeting in August. Dr Lai Suat Yan and Dr Dina Bacalexi (FERC-CGT, France) met during the Congress to firm up the idea for a panel on sexual harassment for future sessions. The panel on sexual harassment was first initiated at the 12th Further and Higher Education and Research Conference in Taiwan. Dr Ngo Sheau Shi, Dr Yuwana Podin and Dr Lai Suat Yan are also currently working on a joint article tentatively titled “Challenges and Strategies Forward in Reclaiming Higher Education in ‘New’ Malaysia” for the special bilingual version of the French magazine "La vie de la recherche scientifique".

All in all, it was a valuable 8-day congress where many networks were established, gaps bridged, friendship made, and strategies plotted in pushing for academic freedom in Malaysia.