Under the theme, Quality teachers for Quality Education: Better working conditions for A Brighter Future” The Anguilla Teachers’ Union Joins teachers around the world to recognize the efforts made by teachers. To celebrate our efforts, World Teachers’ Day is celebrated annually in most countries around the world on October 5th.

Henry Brooks Adams once wrote that a teacher affects eternity because he can never tell where his influence stops. We believe that every child deserves a high-qualified teacher. Qualified teachers are those who are well equipped for the classroom.

Have you ever been to a rat show? Well, each day we go to a rat show. There’s Tom and Harry running up and down in the roof, screaming at each other over and over again. Our class, itself, is the rats’ toilet. The walls are stained with rat droppings and if that’s not bad enough, they also serve as a canvas for the Michaelangelos of the new millennium. These “artists” find it necessary to leave their, not so pleasant, mark on our classroom. We guess they figure they are making our pale-coloured walls more visually appealing.

As for the windows, they are bent up, rusted and guess what? Some are even missing! The floor...what can we say about the floor? It’s dusty, dirty and just so hard to look at because it makes you want to cry. It makes us feel as if we’re sitting in poverty. Don’t talk about the fans! The blades are so shaky that when the fan is on, they look like missiles on the verge of being launched. On hot days, we turn on the fans and just pray that at the end of the period we’ll all leave with our heads intact.

We are students of the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School, Campus A. We are a third form social studies class, Miss Zeagman is our teacher. The reason we are writing this essay is because our classroom- Room 1, is a disgrace. Room 1 is a Humanities classroom and is used by many different groups of students during the day.

Over the years it has become run down. One of the main problems in our classroom is that it is very dark. It is so dark that students in the back rows can barely see what the teacher is writing on the black board. The lights in the room only work some of the time.

Under the theme “Quality Teachers for Quality Education”, the Anguilla Teachers’ Union celebrates Teachers’ Week 2006, Sunday October 1st – Friday October 6th


• Activities for the Week include:

October 1 Sunday – Church service, St. Gerard’s Catholic 9:00 am

October 2 Monday – President Radio Address, Teacher becomes principal for a day / community members teach at schools

October 4th Wednesday, Food fair & Social at the Agricultural Grounds starting at 6:30 pm.

October 5 Thursday - WTD/ Teacher Appreciation Day
- Teacher Appreciation Concert – Campus B

On that day, students, teachers and other community members should express their appreciation to teachers. We know a little appreciation can go a long way to make teachers feel good about what they do. Its not just the gifts that matter it’s the sincerity of your appreciation. This is a one-day event, but we hope individuals do not treat it that way. Remember we are teachers! That’s what we do, that’s who we are and we work tirelessly everyday because we love what we do. The best you can do is just say we love and appreciate all that you do. It is our hope that the community will continue to show this level of respect and appreciation not just on one day but throughout the year. Show us that you are concerned about your child’s education – attend parents teachers meetings regularly, call a teacher to find out how your child is doing in that class, pay a visit to the school to see how your child is doing. World Teacher´s Day is celebrated every year in more than 100 countries, not only in the countries where the teachers are better paid and have better teaching conditions, because of the greater investment in education, but also in countries where the lives and liberty of the teachers are under threat from constant violence and opression.

October 6 Friday Teachers Conference & Awards Ceremony, Anguilla Great House starting at 9 :00 am.

Let us improve the quality of education, let us lobby our governments for better working conditions, more resources, more funding, greater involvement. Quality begins with you! Let your voice be heard.

Agenda of the EI/CUT Round Table Meeting.