DailyNews.gif Teachers to boycott ANAs Theto Mahlakoana, Johannesburg, for Daily News, Durban, 25 November 2015 Teachers affiliated to five South African educators trade unions say they plan to boycott the annual national assessment (ANA) tests scheduled to start on Thursday. Leaders of the five unions addressed journalists in Midrand on the sidelines of the COSATU congress on Wednesday, officially pulling the plug on the ANA. They were flanked by educators who sang; "Down with ANA down"! Demo at COSATU Congress.jpg The unions chided the Department of Basic Education for pushing ahead with the tests despite initial agreements that the assessments would be abandoned this year in order to undergo remodelling. Unions expressed disappointment with the department's minister Angie Motshekga for abruptly pulling out of negotiations aimed at resolving the impasse. SA Democratic Teachers' Union (SADTU) general secretary, Mugwena Maluleke, said they were enraged by a circular issued by the employer announcing that ANA would be administered from Thursday until the fourth of December. "Organised labour agreed to a mediation process at the behest of the department to find a solution on the ANA deadlock. It thus shocked us that the department of education has now decided to walk away from the agreement despite our willingness to cooperate," said Maluleke. They found the timing of the test schedule to be problematic as most learners were already in the middle of exams, while some were winding down their academic year. The unions were also against the current evaluation method, saying it lacked validity and proved pointless in measuring learners' proficiency. Teachers and school principals were advised not to bow to pressure from the employer. The department had allegedly said the tests would go ahead with or without the teachers' involvement. SADTU members who attended the briefing shouted "let them try". From: http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/teachers-to-boycott-anas-1.1950830#.VlXb gXYrK00 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
