NAPTOSA's position on the Annual National Assessment (ANA) as presented by Dr Anthea Cereseto (NAPTOSA Deputy President).

MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION’S WALKING AWAY FROM ANA MEDIATION CAUSES TURMOIL IN EDUCATION

Joint Media Statement

Organised labour in the Basic Education sector, regrets the unilateral withdrawal from mediation by the Minister of Basic Education despite an agreement on the Annual National Assessment(ANA)  being reached on Thursday, 19 November 2015. This is the second withdrawal on the agreement reached with the unions on the issue by the Minister that has put education in turmoil.

The Department of Basic Education  (DBE), in their letter to the mediator, signed by the Director General, indicates that the mediation process failed on account of; “The last insertion of suggested wording to the settlement agreement that sought to make the writing of the ANA 2015 voluntary, defeated all attempts to find each other.” What this indicates is that the mediation process failed on the basis of the word “voluntarily”. We must clarify that this clause was included in the initial draft settlement that they themselves had agreed to (see attached draft agreement).