Sadtu
DBE accused of showing little regard for the lives of teachers
They say while an agreement was reached to push back the return of pupils, they were never consulted about the early return of school management teams and...
South Africans will be eagerly waiting to hear what Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has to say when she addresses the nation on Friday around her department’s plans to reopen schools.
One of the deceased was based at the Inanda Seminary Marking Centre in eThekwini while another was at a marking centre in Estcourt, in KZN’s uThukela District.
Matric marking efforts are rolling into their second week, with thousands of assessors toiling away across the country.
With schools expected to reopen in less than a month, Sadtu said that educators were grappling with grief and trauma.
The Labour Appeal Court dismissed an application by public service unions to compel the state to implement the third year of increases.
Judge Norman Davis on Friday declared the Basic Education Department’s decision unlawful and irregular.
The High Court in Pretoria has found that the decision by the Basic Education Department to rewrite two leaked papers was unlawful and irregular and that it should be set aside.
Judgment in the matter was reserved until Friday.
AfriForum argued in the High Court in Pretoria on Thursday that the minister made the decision for a national rewrite without adequate consultation with the DBE director-general (DG) and other education bodies.
The minister announced last week that due to the Maths Paper 2 and Physical Science Paper 2 being leaked, pupils throughout the country will need to rewrite them.
Going back on its previous which prohibited pupils with COVID-19 from entering exam venues, DBE now says candidates who test positive and are deemed fit, will be allowed to write at a different venue and under secure conditions.
With South Africa among the most unequal societies in the world, Sadtu is worried that pupils from low-income households have not been adequately equipped to deal with the challenges of COVID-19 ahead of this year's exams.
The Basic Education Department instructed all teachers granted concessions to work from home during the nationwide lockdown to report back to school on Monday.
The Department of Basic Education announced that it was replacing the exams for grades 10 and 11 with controlled tests due to the trimmed curriculum.
The union said its members raised concerns as they were still waiting for substitute teachers to be deployed to schools.
The comments are in stark contrast to assurances given by the Gauteng Department of Education, which said the further re-opening of the sector went ahead largely without any major glitches.
Sadtu was still displeased with Monday’s phasing in of more pupils – saying the decision was taken without consultation.
The union said that it was concerned about the state of readiness for next week because it was not clear whether safety issues and structural challenges like poor water supply in some communities had been addressed.