SADTU+on+16th+Commonwealth+Teachers+Conference+061215



=SADTU PRESS RELEASE AT THE 16TH COMMONWEALTH CONFERENCE=


 * CAPE TOWN, 11-14 DECEMBER 2006**

SADTU commends the 16th Commonwealth Conference on the successful proceedings, in particular in the convening of the first ever Forum for teachers. The Forum fed directly into the Ministerial Conference. Teachers and their organizations welcomed this development and expressed a strong desire for the Forum to be a permanent feature of the CCEM.

Teachers are the most important resource in education and are vital to countries striving to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and Education for All goals. SADTU welcomed the following in its action plan:


 * that more teachers needed to be trained in order to attain universal primary education,
 * ensure professional development of teachers with quality as a key focus and,
 * Increase parental involvement in education and schools based activities.

However, SADTU would like to emphasize that creative and innovative steps will need to be taken to be able to meet the looming teacher shortage that is fueled by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, decline in the image of the profession and the migration of teachers to the countries of the North. Governments will have to take bold steps to ensure that teaching becomes a profession of choice for the younger generation and at the same time retain their existing teachers in the system. Hence, the need for progressive labour laws, satisfactory conditions of service, continuing professional development and incentives are necessary factors to maintain a healthy cadre of teachers.

We strongly support the idea that quality teachers are essential for quality education and endorse Minister Pandor’s sentiment that leadership and governance are central to attaining quality education. Therefore we urge commonwealth countries to ensure that investment in education correlates with the need for quality in education. For too long, quality has been sacrificed due to lack of pro-poor funding formulas in education. Hence, as Teacher unions in the commonwealth we will ensure that education ministers “keep the promise” as stated in the final Communique at the end of the conference.

In terms of the MDG and EFA goals we would like to highlight that although statistics in South Africa suggests that we have almost reached full access and gender parity in education and hence has successfully achieved the MDG goals 2 and 3 and the corresponding EFA goals. However, in-depth analysis from independent sources indicate that although access has been achieved it has not led to the redistribution of resources and power that will transforms the lives of young girls and women in the schooling system. In a similar vein, although enrolment figures are high in the country, retention and school survival to grade 12 remains elusive to many children, particularly male learners, the poor and the disabled. Hence SADTU proposes that governments conduct more qualitative research that moves beyond figures and numbers but focuses on providing more nuanced insights into the quality of the education the learners, especially girls. This would have to incorporate the provision of good qualified teachers, equitable learner-teacher ratios, classroom size, school curriculum and learning support material, and school infrastructure.

Once again SADTU reaffirms its support for the Action plan of the 16th Commonwealth conference in Cape Town. The challenge is for civil society, academy, teacher unions and the governments of the commonwealth to answer the call for partnership and action to achieve EFA and the MDG by 2015.

Issued by SADTU Secretariat:


 * Willy Madisha: President (082 783 2967)
 * Thulas Nxesi: General Secretary (082 782 6877)
 * Don Pasquallie: Deputy General Secretary (079 492 4081)

15/12/2006

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