A local principal says a misunderstanding between his Grade 12 learners and members of South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) led to the learners locking in everyone at the school. Last week Sadtu
leadership released a press statement as an apology to its members for exposing them to a “hostage” situation at Nombulelo Secondary School on Tuesday.
A local principal says a misunderstanding between his Grade 12 learners and members of South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) led to the learners locking in everyone at the school. Last week Sadtu
leadership released a press statement as an apology to its members for exposing them to a “hostage” situation at Nombulelo Secondary School on Tuesday.
According to part of the statement, “The executive committee of Sadtu in Grahamstown wishes to sincerely apologise to her entire membership for the mishaps and uncalled for hostage taking of our members by an unruly mob of Nombulelo learners on Tuesday at their school.”
Sadtu said its members gathered at the school to listen to a report on matters relating to the trial exams and recovery plans as proposed by the Education Department.
“Fellow comrades, you might accuse Nombulelo's school principal about this debacle, that will be wrong, the hyped up department official misled the principal and left him in the cold,” read the statement.“This is very dangerous for our revolutions as forces of doom can destroy human relations as they did at Nombulelo Secondary School.”
However, school principal Mthuthuzeli Koliti said the problem was nothing more than a venue clash as the school's hall had been doublebooked for a Sadtu meeting as well as the trial exams.
He added that Sadtu's meeting had continued up until 1.30pm by which time the Grade 12 learners entered the hall as they were due to write an English paper at 2pm.
When the learners saw Sadtu members in the hall they concluded that they were there to disrupt their exam. “Without talking to anyone, the learners decided to strike back and started singing in front of the hall,” explained Koliti. “Had the learners talked to us about the matter before they acted on it, none of that would have happened.”
He added that the learners got hold of a padlock which they used to lock the school’s entrance gate. Koliti said that the learners had heard reports on Monday that Sadtu had disrupted exams at TEM Mrwetyana and Kutliso Daniels high schools and that this fuelled their perception that the union was there to disrupt their exam as well.
After failed attempts to get the keys from the learners, the school management panicked and called the police. “We continued negotiating with the learners in front of the police until 3pm,” he said.
As a result of the incident, the school had to postpone writing the English paper. “But we have managed to fit it into our timetable and we’ll probably write it on Thursday,” said Koliti.
Meanwhile, Sadtu expressed its support for the preliminary exams. “We wish the Grade 12 learners luck with their exams,” according to a statement.
According to a resolution reached by the Grahamstown district office and teacher trade unions on Monday, individual high schools are expected to decide whether their learners will write the standard preliminary exams or substitute difficult questions in papers with easier ones.
Koliti says some teachers can even adjust the marks to put the learners’ results in a more favourable position.
But this is not a problem for Nombulelo School as most teachers there have covered the syllabus. “For most papers we are writing the standard paper, as part of their preparation for the final exams it's important for the learners to write the standard paper,” Koliti concluded.
