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Commonwealth curbs on poaching of teachers

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, SEPT. 2. Britain has been forced to sign an agreement that would bar recruitment agencies from "poaching" school teachers from developing Commonwealth member-states to fill vacancies in U.K. schools.

The agreement was signed at a meeting of Education Ministers and officials from Commonwealth countries at Lincolnshire on Wednesday amid growing concern among many Third World member-nations, particularly in Africa, over flight of qualified school teachers to Britain at a time when they are needed at home.

Last year alone, more than 5,000 teachers from developing countries, including India, were recruited by British schools. Most came from African and Caribbean countries, with South Africa accounting for the bulk of them.

Representatives from these countries complained that the "brain drain" was affecting their efforts to achieve the United Nations target of providing primary education to all children by 2015.

There have also been allegations of "exploitation'' of teachers from poorer countries by recruitment agencies which lure them to Britain with promises of lucrative salaries and perks.

Teachers have complained that when they arrive here, often they are not given jobs immediately and are left to fend for themselves.

Last year, a group of teachers from Zimbabwe found themselves stranded when they were suddenly made redundant with no other job prospect in sight.

"Some of these teachers were destitute. One teacher was placed by an agency in a house run as a brothel and it was raided," said Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers.

Under the new agreement — the Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol — recruitment agencies which continue to poach on countries where there is shortage of qualified teachers would lose their "quality mark" — a form of accreditation without which they will not be trusted by schools to recruit on their behalf.

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