Probably the youngest candidate in the Welsh Assembly elections 18-year-old Dan is a College National Union of Students activist, convenor of the south Wales Young Communist League and an anti-fascism/anti-racism campaigner.

Dan is concerned that the current fashion for criminalising young people is challenged. Dan explains that "Young people are the future, yet they are treated as second-rate citizens. Young people face huge difficulties particularly with low pay rates and the lack of affordable housing".

As a student Dan is well aware of the importance of education in Wales and the need to ensure everyone has access to lifelong learning.

The Communist Party proposes: * That all education provision is subject to democratic control through the local education authority and learners and educators themselves.

* That all school provision is based on locality regardless of faith, capacity to pay or apparent ability. Such a comprehensive system is essential to build for a society based upon communal values and understanding. Recent research identifies educational inequality as one of the major factors in causing a lack of social cohesion.

* An expansion of Welsh medium education to meet growing demand across Wales * Significant public investment in new schools, nurseries, libraries and cultural facilities.

* Cuts in teacher training are stopped. We propose providing more teachers with smaller classes.

* Privileges given to big business and its inputs into education and lifelong learning are stopped. The WAG's faith in big business has been both uncritical and unjustified.

* That all further and higher education be brought under local authority and WAG control. This would ensure greater educational coherence and avoid unnecessary duplication brought about by competition.

* Grants to students need to be re-established while fees are abolished.

* All communities should have access and support to develop their own forms of community education.

* Youth work should be expanded significantly.

The youth service should prioritise the need for young people to have a voice in the community and in society generally.

There are numerous ways of raising money for education in a society as rich as ours. One method we propose is: * Cutting military expenditure back to the European average to invest in more productive areas of the economy. This includes saving the £25 billion to start a new nuclear weapons programme. The public money being spent on the Iraq war is not benefiting the people but is ensuring the oil and construction transnationals are profiting by seizing Iraqi resources.