MBOMBELA – On Thursday the annual national assessments (ANAs) got under way in the city despite strong opposition from five teacher unions.

The assessments were postponed in September, after the South African Democratic Teachers Union instructed teachers not to administer the assessment saying it needed to be remodelled.

The purpose of the ANAs is to monitor and track learner performance and diagnose areas of weakness in language and mathematics in grades one to nine.

This newspaper spoke with local school principals who wished to remain anonymous, since they were not authorised to speak on behalf of the department.

“We have no choice. The department said pupils must write the assessments, we have to abide by the rules and conduct them. I feel sorry for learners after they thought they were done with writing year-end exams, now they have to sit again for the ANA,” said one headmaster.

“The Department of Basic Education says the assessments will run until next Friday, at a time that is convenient to the school. The school must determine the timetable for writing of these tests.

The marking will be done by the teachers at the school and should be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2016.
ANA is based on the national curriculum statement and therefore tests the extent to which learners have mastered the knowledge and competencies as required by the curriculum. Results are not used for the purpose of promotion or progression.

State-funded independent schools are not compelled to write the ANA, since the results will not be used for the purpose of subsidy determination in 2016.