SADTU *SADTU Media Statement, 5 October 2010* *SADTU'S World Teachers Day message*The South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) joins millions of teachers around the world to celebrate World Teachers Day -5th of October.
This year's theme "Recovery Begins with Teachers" echoes what SADTU and many teachers represent.
Twenty years ago on the 6th of October 1990 (a day after World Teachers Day) history was made in South African when the first revolutionary, non-racial teacher union called SADTU, was born.
Education in South African had been for decades, run along racial lines. At the time of SADTU's launch, education was run by 19 education departments created along racial lines and Bantustans. Whites received better quality of education and better salaries while their counterparts were poorly paid and black children's education was inferior.
Teachers realized that quality education would not be attained under such conditions. In their quest for quality education and to ensure that the needs of future generations were met, teachers from different racial and ideological backgrounds came together and took the decision to unite.
This put SADTU in the forefront of the Recovery Process.When one looks back 20 years later, we commend what has been achieved but the road towards true transformation in education is far from over.
By educating our children, teachers ensure that poverty is eliminated. Therefore, the role of teachers is central to social, economic and intellectual rebuilding.
As we did in 1990 when we brought apartheid education to its knees, let us again act like true revolutionaries by ensuring that the kind of education we impart to our children, makes them to be better citizens of this world and not mere tools to prop up the economic systems that have for decades, failed this world.
We call upon World Leaders to put education as a priority and invest in the training of teachers. Teachers are central in any recovery process, whether from natural disaster or economic crisis. We educate our nation to learn to live together.
SADTU's World Teachers Day celebrations will coincide with the Union's 20th anniversary celebrations to take place at the Johannesburg Stadium on Saturday, 9th October 2010.
*Issued by SADTU Secretariat* * * *Contact:* *General Secretary, Mugwena Maluleke, 082 783 2968* *Deputy General Secretary, Nkosana Dolopi, 082 709 5651* *Media Officer, Nomusa Cembi, 082 719 5157* -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
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