Cape Town - The Western Cape High Court has ordered the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) and the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) to instruct their members not to engage in unlawful activity in protesting against provincial systemic tests.
Last month, Sadtu called for the boycott of the tests, which assess Grade 3, 6 and 9 pupils’ numeracy and literacy skills, and said pupils were being over-tested.
The tests were scheduled to conclude this week, but Education MEC Debbie Schäfer said 146 schools couldn’t complete them. A schedule has been drawn up to complete these tests by November 3.
“The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) applied for an urgent interdict to restrain Sadtu and Cosas from disrupting tests at these schools during this period, after a campaign of obstruction and intimidation by them.
“Ms Acting Justice McCurdie, however, ordered that the WCED provide the names of the schools concerned to Sadtu and Cosas and ordered Sadtu and Cosas to instruct their members not to engage in unlawful activity in protesting against systemic testing,” Schäfer said in a statement released on Thursday.
She said unlawful activity included disrupting systemic testing at these schools. Such activity would include preventing access to the school premises, intimidation, and any other activity which prevented systemic testing from taking place.
It also included inciting others to engage in unlawful activity.
“We welcome the judgment.
“We accept that citizens have the right to peaceful protest, but do not have the right to act unlawfully, using intimidation and violence.
Sadtu Western Cape also welcomed the outcome.
In a statement, the union said: “The order given by the High Court reiterates our position as Sadtu that our members should not act in a violent or unlawful manner in exercising our legal right to protest against policies of the employer, when we view them not to be of interest to improved education outcomes in the province.
“As Sadtu we reiterate our call for the protest against these tests, albeit in a peaceful way as previously directed in previous statements and communications.”
The union said it believed there was a dire need to increase the number of teaching posts and resources in schools with the savings from the systemic tests.
“The stance by the employer to reschedule the tests when they know that learners will be commencing with their final examinations which will determine whether they progress to the next grade is a clear indication that they do not care about our learners, who will have to undergo two different assessments within a short space of time.
“Their concern is to ensure that the budget they set aside for these tests is spent, regardless of the strain and suffering it places on the learners.”
Cape Argus