Hala Talaat, a founding member of the Egyptian Teachers’ Federation sent this message to colleagues in the National Union of Teachers in the UK. She talks about the experience of organising the mass strike by teachers in September 2011, which brought thousands of Egyptian schools to standstill, and about why the independent teachers’ unions are still fighting for social justice, better education and improved pay and conditions for teachers a year after the revolution which overthrew Mubarak.

Read more about the September 2011 strike here, and see details of the teachers’ unions recent campaign here. The National Union of Teachers passed this motion in solidarity with the Egyptian workers’ movement at the union’s 2012 conference. If you are an NUT member and would like to know more about how you can support our campaign in solidarity with Egyptian teachers, please contact us by email: menasolidarity@gmail.com