ANA move upsets Cosatu members

Delegates arrive for a Cosatu meeting at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand. File picture: Dumisani Sibeko

Delegates arrive for a Cosatu meeting at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand. File picture: Dumisani Sibeko

Published Nov 25, 2015

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Johannesburg - Cosatu members attending the federation’s congress in Midrand will protest against the Department of Education for going ahead with the annual national assessment (ANA) on Wednesday morning.

The demonstration will be held outside the congress venue, Gallagher Estate, as leaders from all South African education unions meet behind closed doors to establish what action would be taken against the department.

The unions were angered by a circular the department apparently issued this week, informing educators the tests would be taking place from Thursday until December 4.

It is meant to evaluate the proficiency of Grade 1-9 learners on languages, mathematics, literacy and numeracy.

The tests are conducted by schools, which are also responsible for the marking and internal moderation.

“All the unions are meeting to establish the way forward, obviously we are not happy, the actual decision on what will be done will be made in that meeting,” said Nomusa Cembi, a spokeswoman for the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union.

The unions, including the South African Professional Educators’ Union and the National Teachers’ Union, will outline their defiance plan at a media briefing at midday on Wednesday. The unions will likely call upon their members to boycott the tests as they wanted them to be scrapped.

Cosatu members were also expected to vote for a new deputy general secretary in a secret ballot on the third day of the congress.

There were also a number of issues still up for debate at the congress, as the 2 500 delegates continue to interrogate the state of their organisation, their alliance and the country.

LABOUR BUREAU

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