BY POPULAR demand, we run Sowetan Nation Building's perennial World Teachers' Day tribute, To All My Teachers Today and Always.

Despite coming a day after Education International's commemoration of the value of those who are fighting to provide quality education to children of the world, during this "World Teachers Month", tens of thousands of students, parents and activists around the globe will continue to pay homage to all teachers who have been directly, or indirectly affected by a major crisis, challenges and this massive burden of nurturing the nation's future leaders.

Education International, a world teachers' organisation, advocates for free quality education for all, which it describes as an undeniable human right. It also stresses that it is the duty of every government to provide free quality public education to all its citizens.

Education International also believes that literacy is the cornerstone of all sustainable societies, and the key to break the poverty cycle and stop the spread of HIV-Aids. It also adds that teachers and other education personnel play a vital role in social, economic and intellectual rebuilding.

The World Teachers Day message from Education International: "All those fighting to provide quality education to children of the world can join teachers and their organisations to celebrate the profession and show them their support." Below is our contribution:

When we first met I was a piece of wood.

You had seen the likes of me before.

To you, any child, like all others, has the same blood.

So, with ease you made me see the world anew, differently.

Like you had always said,

Shown, taught and done, before .

You laughed with me when I discovered things.

Like stolen sugar, if not eaten fast, melts in the pocket.

Like dead frogs rot, and smell, if kept for far too long in the pocket.

Like now, I know, you were wrong to beat me for the wrong answers.

Like now, I know you were wrong to beat me for owing school fees.

Like I know from your unseeing violence then,

You were a victim of a vile system too.

Like now I know that to love stray pets.

Like I love you too, is cool.

Also, when we first met I was like a piece of clay.

You had seen my imperfect types before,

We were blind blobs at most, before,

To you, a child came in any shape.

Then, and now, your focus was and is on nurturing brains.

Here I am, a bit brainier.

Here I am, thinking that I know better.

But to you, I am all vain.

You will always know the coming pains and chains.

You have seen, heard, felt and done it all before.

Just what do we want from you?

When you are a parent, coach and mentor each day.

When you toil, and yet earn a pittance,

And yet you nurture a nation's future daily.

Sadly, I - we - remember you only when I see you,

I, from my lofty pedestal . as we all do ...

And you give me - us - a knowing look;

Such have passed by, before.

Today, in this lifetime, we honour you once a year.

But do you achieve greatness once a year?

Yet, you are the light that opened my eyes to the world.

And, how I wish you had taught me numbers as enjoyably as words!

Because of you I am at peace, sated, a king when clutching words.

Yes, how I yearn for those impromptu, real history lectures,

When you said we should cram the pale man's version,

And then live our own, and remember to teach our kith, kin and kids.

Just, why do we remember you when those in your rank err?

Aren't you human, also prone to error, living with the good and the bad?

My world is mostly rosy today,

Yet, I do not view it with rose-coloured glasses,

Because, as you have inducted me;

This is a world that can cause terror, anguish and all .

Those who looked at you like you were a clown,

And even sneered at your tests.

The proverbial heat to wood and clay.

Are bumbling through life today,

With looking yet unseeing eyes .

My teachers,

I honour you,

Daily, no end,

At most, by living your wise words.

Because you, who wear no uniforms, are like my parents and all others daily-sloggers, workers too!

Because you, who did not really bear me,

But bore and turned my greenness.

And with heaps of tolerance and love, you shaped me.

And, with compassion and all else virtuous, you moulded me.

Here I am, looking on, as we honour you, today

As if you are a one-day hero .

In my book-heart,

As should be in all other book-hearts,

You - all my teachers today and always - are an everyday hero ... - Victor Mecoamere, Johannesburg, 2004.