About 200 student representatives from 23 universities and teacher training colleges around the country gathered in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni on Wednesday for the launch of the national student chapter of South Africa’s largest teachers’ union.
The South Africa Democratic Trade Union (Sadtu) is hosting a two-day imbizo to launch the Sadtu Student Chapter which is made up of student teachers from institutions of higher learning.
In addition to nurturing a second layer of membership, the aim of the chapter is to educate student teachers about their labour rights and other matters of concern in the education sector as part of preparing them to enter the system.
“The Sadtu Student Chapter is launched on a special day, June 28, the day of the birth of Chris Hani,” said Sadtu president Magope Maphila at the imbizo held at Birchwood Hotel and O.R Tambo Conference Centre.
The formation of the student chapter is a realisation of the resolution of the trade union’s national general council in 2017.
Since 2017, the union said, student chapters have been established in institutions of higher learning across all nine provinces, and to mark Youth Month Sadtu officially launched its national student chapter.
Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga and Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Buti Manamela were some of the speakers present at the imbizo.
“Empowering the youth can harness their creativity, innovation and fresh perspective to drive positive change in the education sector and ensure the success of the generational mission,” said Motshekga.
She said the top maths teachers at the national teachers awards in 2022 were all under the age of 30. “It shows that the future lies in our young teachers,” she said.
Manamela said the chapter is an opportunity for future teachers to redefine what it means to be a teacher of the future, saying the Sadtu Student Chapter is an investment into the future of the leadership of schools and of the trade movement.
The imbizo continues on Thursday.
Sadtu said the imbizo is a platform to give delegates the platform to express their views and observations about the future of the teaching profession and scrutinise the various education policies with the view of positioning themselves in the ongoing struggle towards ensuring the decolonisation of education.
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