FREE STATE PROVINCE 
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES FOR QUALITY, PUBLIC EDUCATION AND JOB SECURITY

MEDIA STATEMENT

• PEC calls on government to hold awareness campaigns in schools on human and drug trafficking in the run-up to the Soccer World Cup.  
• PEC support commitment towards improving matric results but is against harassment and victimisation of teachers to achieve the best results.
• PEC concerned at the increase of incidents of sexual assault on learners in schools

SADTU in the Free State held its Provincial Executive Council (PEC) on March 12 until 13 and took resolutions on the following:

POLITICAL:

The PEC will begin a program of continuous political education which will involve political classes to be run jointly with COSAS, ANC, SACP and COSATU. The classes will be taken to all organisational structure - sites, branches and regions.

FIFA WORLD CUP
The PEC pledges its full support for  the FIFA World Cup and congratulates  those schools who will take part in the games leading up to the World Cup. It is our wish that when the world leaves South Africa after the world Cup, South Africa would be confirmed to all that it is a place worth living in.
However, we are aware of the positive and negative spin offs that may affect the country especially the youth.
Human trafficking, drug trafficking and the abuse of the women and children may be the negative spin-offs.
We therefore call on government to go into schools and communities and run awarenss campaigns about the challenges lying ahead and how these could be avoided.
We commit ourselves to taking forward a campaign that seeks to make children and parents aware of these challenges.

Education

We are aware of the desperate measures that the Department of Basic Education is adopting to try and boost matric results.
We support every effort that will achieve these objectives of quality public education without stepping on the rights of others and contravening the existing policies.
We call on all our members and educators to be in class, on time and teaching qualitatively.
We reject any form of victimization and harassment on our members out of desperation to achieve the best. Any good results achieved in this manner will not last but will live only up to the presence and leadership of those who do them
We must archive life long learning and teaching and not quick fixing the challenges of the education in the province.
We recommit ourselves to Quality Learning and Teaching campaign and applaud the education stakeholders who continue to ensure that education in the province receives the priority it deserves.
 
Organizational
We are moving towards the national congress and there is a need for all our structures to prepare for the renewal of the organization and improve on our constitution and its policies and to start discussing the issue of subscriptions.

In relation to internal organizational discipline we need to express our disappointment at the rate in which sexual assault on learners in schools is increasing. We call on all our members to refrain from this act of  barbarism. Any educator who does these things has no place in SADTU. Our branches should be swift to deal with these kinds of incidents and we should not wait for departmental processes. 

ISSUED BY SECRETARIAT
SADTU FREE-STATE

CONTACTS:

PROVINCIAL CHAIRPERSON:  PELE MACHEDI – 078 457 2008

PROVINCIAL SECRETARY: MARUPING MARUMO  079 556 9419.