Pass one, pass all, COSAS demands

The Congress of South African Students (COSAS) in Limpopo conducted a leadership walk from Bokamoso High School in Seshego to the provincial Department of Education’s offices in Polokwane to demand the progression of all learners.
This comes after the announcement by the President Cyril Ramaphosa of alert level 2 of the Covid-19 lockdown, where more learners will be expected to return to schools.
Cosas Provincial Secretary Sello Mahladisha says the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) resolved in a PEC Meeting on Sunday, 30 August to engage the department on progressing all learners who are in pre-tertiary levels to the next grade in a pass one pass all method.
Cosas believes that this is unavoidable as schools have not covered sufficient content in the syllabus which is compounded by the fact that learners go to school only a few times a week.
“Cosas believes that the Department must re-arrange the final examination and allow Gr 12’s to only be assessed on the basis of content that has been covered. This should be limited to 50% of the syllabus,” he said.
According to Mahladisha, a survey was conducted by teacher unions which revealed that 62% of schools nationwide would have not covered the Gr 12 syllabus by November when examinationss are set to start.
“Cosas also rejects the return of other grades. We believe that only Gr 11 and Gr 6 learners must go back to schools, as most schools do not have enough classrooms to accommodate other grades and taking into consideration the shortage of teachers. As Cosas we remain of the view that the phased return of learners to schools should not come at a cost of risking the safety and security of the learners.”
Departmental spokesperson Tidimalo Chuene said they would respond to Cosas in due course.

Story: Umpha Manenzhe