World+Teachers+Day+must+mean+free+education+for+all,+YCL

YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE OF SOUTH AFRICA, PRESS STATEMENT, 05 October 2006
=WORLD TEACHERS DAY MUST MEAN FREE EDUCATION FOR ALL=

The Young Communist League of South Africa (YCLSA) salutes all teachers in our country and the world as we mark World Teachers' Day today.

This is a day to reflect on the challenges facing the teaching profession and the failing education system in our country. The YCL is concerned with the conditions in which our country's teachers work under and our country's learners learn under.

The education system does not pay our teachers well, does not provide all-rounded development to both learners and teachers, is still very costly to the poor, is without resources and equipment to formerly black (and still poor and working class) schools, and limits access to higher education to a lucky few, does not ensure access to employment for millions of matriculants. All these do not make for a good quality public education. We therefore reiterate our call for free education as this will also benefit teachers professionally.

As the YCL we call on teacher trade unions to join our call and campaign for a free education in South Africa. We call for a national meeting of civil society to discuss ways and means to discuss and build a mass campaign to win the demand for a free, compulsory and quality public education system available to all children from kindergarten to tertiary education. It is only such a system which will also ensure that the teachers of our country are fully developed and highly valued as the builders of the nation.

As the YCL we are also concerned with the high rate of teachers who lose their lives as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. This deadly disease robs our pupils of teachers, parents, family members and in the process them of a better future. We therefore reiterate our call on government to intensify its efforts to defeat the disease starting with a review of prevention programmes and provision of ARV treatment to the more than 200,000 South Africans who need them but cannot get them in the public health system. We also salute the work of the SA Democratic Teachers Union in this regard: in KwaZulu Natal the union has put hundreds of its members on an ARV programme.


 * Issued by the Young Communist League**

For more information contact:
 * Castro Ngobese**
 * YCL Spokesperson**
 * Mobile: 082 567 3557**
 * Tel: 011 339 3621**

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