Press Release, 13 October 2015 COSATU fully behind SADTU's decision to reject ANA in its current form The Congress of South African Trade Unions has noted that the 4th ANC National General Council has called on the department of Basic Education to go ahead with the implementation of the Annual National Assessment (ANA). This despite the fact that our affiliate SADTU and the entire organised labour in the sector have made it known to the department and all stakeholders that ANA in its current form is not in the best interests of learners, and will not help improve the quality of education. COSATU is fully behind SADTU in opposing the implementation of ANA in its current form. Teachers have made it very clear that they are not opposed to the assessments as a matter of principle, but they find the current system unworkable and inadequate. The fact that it fails to be diagnostic but is more focused on testing and ticking the boxes, gives validity to the argument put forward by teacher unions. There is no use in going ahead with something that will not help the education system achieve its intended goals. The proposal that the assessments be done after every three years makes logical sense, because there will be enough time to identify systemic and operational glitches and bottlenecks for rectification. It is regrettable that the ANC NGC missed an opportunity to guide the department by advising them to work with all stakeholders to develop a modified, complete and analytical tool, instead of the ANA in its current form. The federation calls on the department of Education to sit down with SADTU and all other stakeholders, to find an amicable solution to the disagreement over ANA. There is no government or departmental policy or programme that will succeed without a buy-in from the stakeholders. Unilateral decisions that are imposed on the stakeholders create adversarial relations and discourage the workforce. There is no enhanced quality education that can be achieved by a de-motivated and disgruntled workforce. Teachers are a critical component in the improvement of the education system and they should be properly consulted and listened to, before decisions are taken. We all need to ensure that there is labour peace in the education sector and imposing a programme that is opposed by the teachers will poison the relations and destabilise the sector. To avoid the fragmentation of the system and to ensure that the system of assessments contribute towards the attainment of quality education for our children and improved teacher development, the department should open dialogue with teacher unions Issued by COSATU Sizwe Pamla (National Spokesperson) Congress of South African Trade Unions 110 Jorissen Cnr Simmonds Street Braamfontein 2017 P.O.Box 1019 Johannesburg 2000 South Africa Tel: +27 11 339-4911 Mobile (060) 975 6794 E-Mail: [email protected] -- -- 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.
