CoDev Public Forum - Honduran Teachers’ Union

CoDevelopment Canada invites you to hear from Honduran Teachers’ Union (COPEMH) representatives Dilcia Diaz and Carolina Pineda. The Honduran Teachers’ Union has been at the forefront of the struggle to restore democracy in Honduras. Hear from frontline activists as they address the de facto government’s “shock therapy” tactics to privatize public education, the role of international financial institutions in dismantling Honduran Teachers’ organization and the new teaching practices COPEMH is developing to promote gender equity and democracy in Honduran classrooms.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Honduran teachers visiting B.C. critique de facto Honduran government’s “shock therapy” tactics to privatize public education

Vancouver, BC, January 17, 2012 –Teacher activists from the Honduran resistance movement will speak in Vancouver about the role of the de facto regime in the privatization of public education and the dismantling of teachers’ organizations.

Honduran teachers Ms. Dilcia Diaz and Ms. Carolina Pineda will be in Vancouver from January 29^th to February 5^th as part of a Canada-wide tour to speak about the de facto Honduran government’s “shock therapy” tactics to privatize public education, and the role of International Financial Institutions in dismantling Honduran teachers’ organizations. They will also share the innovative new teaching practices their organization is developing to promote gender equity and democracy in Honduran classrooms.

Ms. Diaz and Ms. Pineda are members of the National Executive Committee of the Honduran High School Teachers College (COPEMH) and are the coordinators of the organization's Non-Sexist Pedagogy program.

Since the June 28, 2009 military coup in Honduras, COPEMH has been at the forefront of the struggle to restore democracy in the country. COPEMH’s president, Jaime Rodriguez, is the General Secretary of the National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP), a broad coalition of civil society organizations seeking to overturn the coup.

COPEMH also played a key role in resisting efforts by the de facto regime to undermine Honduras’ public education system and dismantle the teachers’ organizations. The union has paid a heavy price for its resistance. At least ten teachers have been assassinated since the 2009 coup, dozens have been beaten and imprisoned, and hundreds dismissed. The de facto regime has also attempted to break the union financially by withholding funds from membership dues and intervening in the teachers’ social security fund.

Ms. Diaz and Ms. Pineda’s visit is hosted by the BC Teachers’ Federation and CoDevelopment Canada, a BC-based NGO that works for social change and global education in the Americas. They are available for interviews from January 29^th to February 5^th, 2012.