The Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS) once again salutes the hardworking teachers of our country, led by the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), as the nation continues to reflect on the significance of World Teachers’ Day under the theme “Recasting Teaching as a Collaborative Profession.”

Yesterday’s commemorations highlighted both the resilience and the urgent struggle of teachers who remain trapped under the failed Tinkhundla regime. The crisis in education is deepening daily, with stagnant salaries, decaying infrastructure, collapsed school governance, and widening inequality. These conditions are not accidental — they are a direct result of the regime’s anti-worker policies and systematic neglect of public services.

Teachers continue to stand firm as defenders of the right to education, community leadership, and the intellectual development of the youth. Their contribution shapes a generation that is increasingly aware of the need to dismantle exploitation and oppression in pursuit of a democratic and socialist future.

The CPS reiterates that the idea of teaching as a collaborative profession speaks to a broader historic task. Collaboration means collective organisation of teachers, communities, parents, and students toward building an education system that serves working-class interests. However, genuine collaboration cannot flourish under dictatorship.

In Swaziland today, school committees are manipulated, unions are undermined, and critical thinking is discouraged. The Tinkhundla regime criminalises lawful dissent and uses fear to silence educators. In such an environment, teachers are denied the freedom necessary to teach, organise, and protect the dignity of learning spaces.

The CPS therefore maintains that the struggle for a collaborative teaching profession is inseparable from the struggle against dictatorship. To teach freely, society must first be free.