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Sadtu, please get on board

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‘The purpose of the Annual National Assessment (ANA) defeats the type of society that is envisaged in the Constitution – that is, creating analytical and critical thinkers. Instead of being a diagnostic tool to help schools improve teaching and learning, the tests are used to label schools, placing the blame of poor performance at the door of teachers.”

This was a secretariat statement by teachers’ union Sadtu at its congress last October.

As the ANAs were about to be conducted countrywide, Sadtu did an about-turn, saying it was not rejecting the idea of the tests in their entirety, but it would not accept their frequency.

Sadtu president Magope Maphila said pushing the tests down the throats of teachers and pupils annually served no purpose, because there was no time to implement the diagnostic report that is produced after the tests’ results. Sadtu also announced it would boycott the assessments.

So it was little wonder when newly appointed basic education director-general Matanzima Mweli, flanked by unions, announced that the ANAs would be postponed to February next year. After a public outcry, government finally found its cojones and reversed this decision.

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced on Friday that the tests would be written in December this year.

Was the initial decision to postpone shoved down Mweli’s throat? Or did Sadtu – which has made holding our education system to ransom its favourite pastime – merely play politics to show who is really running education in this country?

Our education system is fraught with problems, some of which have nothing to do with Sadtu. But the union should not add to the system’s woes.

It is about time Sadtu prioritised the country’s needs – education, the developmental agenda and our growth trajectory. The union wields a considerable amount of influence, which it should channel positively to improve our ailing education system.

It will be close to impossible to improve our lot as a nation unless we address our education system. Not a single effort aimed at turning the system around will bear fruit if the most powerful teachers’ union is not on board

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