Unions boycott ANAs
The SA Democratic Teachers Union defied Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga by boycotting the annual national assessments (ANAs) which were meant to be written from 26 November to 4 December.
The SA Democratic Teachers Union has boycotted the annual national assessments (ANAs) rolled out by basic education Minister Angie Motshekga.
Secretary-general Mugwena Maluleka said his union had told all teachers to not administer the assessments and to return these to their circuits.
“Teachers are busy preparing promotional reports,” Mugwena said.
He accused the department of forcing assessments to reward tenderpreneurs.
“They are doing it to satisfy those they paid to distribute the question papers and mark them, it is all about that tender costing approximately R300 million,” he said.
The department issued a circular instructing schools to commence assessments from Thursday 26 November; to run until 4 December.
Basic education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said the administration of the assessments came after a mediation process that took 31 meetings between the department and unions who could not reach consensus.
“The mediation process, which took place over the course of 31 meetings, concluded with a draft agreement on 19 November and had to be considered by the principals of the parties involved on 23 November,” Mhlanga said.
He stated the council of education ministers welcomed all aspects of the draft agreement except the voluntary implementation of the annual national assessments.
“The administration of the ANA is a curriculum issue, not a labour issue, however after meeting with various stakeholders, the minister felt it was best to try to reach a consensus with our teacher trade unions in a bid to find an amicable solution to the impasse,” Mhlanga added.
He stated that it was unfortunate that no consensus could be reached.
Federation of governing bodies of SA schools (Fedsas) deputy CEO, Dr Jaco Deacon said unions should not bully the minister of basic education, Angie Motshekga.
“Unions cannot boss the minister around on issues which are not about their working conditions. ANA is the discretion of the minister and not of unions,” Deacon said.
He said Fedsas was concerned by the timing of the ANAs and its boycott by unions.
“This will not assist the education system as we will not be able to get a full picture on the state of affairs,” he concluded.
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