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of his political rights was an essential condition for the solution of his problems as a teacher. That solution would come only if he actively participated in the political struggles of his people. Similar debates were taking place among teachers in Natal and the Orange Free State and when the crisis broke over the country the teachers were everywhere unable to present a common front.

The position of the parents and children in this regard immediately called for a review of our own role in the matter. In examining the new legislation, the ANC took account of the fact that Africans had no share in the planning and direction of the system of education existing at that time, that the amount spent on African education made the ideal of a free, compulsory, universal and equal education for African children unobtainable, that African teachers lacked the rights enjoyed not only by other citizens, but more particularly by white, Coloured and Indian teachers, that there were no adequate facilities for the technical training of our people.

The Eislen Commission Report on Native Education, on which the Bantu Education Act was based, stressed the need for the transfer of African education to the central government, the active participation of the African people in their own system of education, mother tongue instruction and practical training. These are time honoured principles of education which have been followed by almost all countries and, on principle, we had no objections to them. But the so called African education is a product of the monstrous theories of race discrimination. In a free and democratic South AFrica there will be neither African, Coloured, Indian nor white education. As TATA said in its comment on the Eislen Report "education is education". Moreover the fabric of tribal life among