National assessment results is postponed again
Resource type: News
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By Retha Grobbelaar
The delay in the release of the annual national assessment results means the country is “losing time” to fix numeracy and literacy problems in schools, NGO Equal Education said yesterday.
Almost four months after about 6.5 million pupils from Grade 2 to 7 and a sample group of Grade 10s wrote numeracy and literacy tests, the results have still not been released.
The Department of Basic Education yesterday gave a new date for the release, saying the results will be released next month.
Granville Whittle, spokesman for the Basic Education Department, blamed logistics for the delay.
“It was simply a very huge logistical undertaking with millions of pupils writing across some 19000 schools.
”This is the first time that we are writing the ANA on this scale.”
He said schools have already shared the results with parents, after teachers marked the tests.
Teachers were then able to “plot interventions” to address numeracy and literacy levels early in the year, Whittle said.
Spokesman for Equal Education, Dmitri Holtzman said the tests are a “massive task”, but added that it’s “concerning that the department is not able to stick to deadlines it set for itself”.
“The release of the results should come as soon as possible. The more time it takes to release the results, the more time it takes for initiatives to kick in,” he said.
Education minister Angie Motshekga
Initially the department said minister Angie Motshekga is “expected to report” on the performance of Grade 3, 6 and 9 by March.
Then Motshekga said in her budget vote speech in April the report would be released on April 29.
Equal Education is an Atlantic grantee.