The Mercury reports that teacher unions are claiming a major victory after the Department of Basic Education agreed to demands to write the “objectionable” Annual National Assessment (ANA) exams only every three years.  

A “re-engineered” assessment system would replace the ANAs at schools in 2018.  A SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) official commented:  “It was our demand that the test be written every three years, so this is a victory for the unions.”  Sadtu said it was happy with the compromise, the National Professional Teachers Organisations of SA (Naptosa) said although it was a victory, it foresaw new problems with the assessments, and the National Teachers Union (Natu) said no agreement had been reached with the department.  Allen Thompson of Natu said they would be requesting a further meeting with the department.

• Read this report by Bernadette Wolhuter and Thami Magubane in full at The Mercury
• See too, ANA now kicked out of schools, at IOL News
• And also, ‘Sadtu's reasons for opposing systemic tests don't stand scrutiny’, at GroundUp

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page