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The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union in the Western Cape would like to distance itself from news reports indicating that some of our members were involved in acts of violence and intimidation at some schools in the province. We condemn the use of violence in the strongest terms; however we make no secret of the fact that we are driving the campaign aimed at drawing the attention of WCED to stop administering these systemic tests.

WCED has failed to convince us of the benefits of these tests on the improvement of education results in the Western Cape. Since the inception of these tests in 2002, the province has not realised an improvement in Grade 12 results, instead we have been surpassed by other provinces. We also firmly believe that WCED has collected enough data over a period thirteen years to inform it of the challenges within the education system in the province. This substantiates our claim that these tests are nothing more than just another money making scheme that are aimed at enriching a few individuals with no intention of improving education output, more especially in working class communities.

The acts of violence reported are as a direct result of intimidation by WCED. Instead of finding solutions to the current predicament WCED resorted to writing intimidating letters to schools. Contrary to the WCED stance that learners and parents have no say in the writing of these tests, we firmly believe that education is a societal issue and all stake holders have a vested interest, hence the involvement of COSAS and SGBs in the campaign.

The campaign is proving to be successful as many schools have heeded the call of the union not to participate in the administration of these tests.  As SADTU we are committed to quality teaching and learning at all schools, hence we will not shy away from challenges confronting education in the province and we need no invitation to do so.

Issued by SADTU Western Cape