/ 23 August 2006

Sadtu: Access to education has not improved

Twelve years into a democratic South Africa access to education has not improved, the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) said on Wednesday.

”In the 1980s the issue was about race, but now it’s a class matter. The only black children who go to the best schools are those who can afford them,” said Sadtu president Willie Madisha.

He was speaking at a media briefing on the preparations and agenda of the Sadtu national congress. The union will hold its sixth national congress from next Wednesday to Saturday in Midrand.

It will be addressed by, among others, President Thabo Mbeki, African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma and the general secretary of Education International Fred van Leeuwen. — Sapa