Pretoria - Except for only a few challenges, the Department of Basic Education says the preliminary reports on the 2012 Annual National Assessments (ANA) received from the provincial departments indicate that overall, the tests were a resounding success.
"The report is not withstanding a few challenges of shortages and incorrect test papers being delivered to some schools,[but] we are satisfied that where these incidents occurred, officials were swift to address them and learners were able to write the test," said department spokesperson, Panyaza Lesufi.
A few incidents were reported and resolved in the Sekhukhune and Vhembe districts in Limpopo, some areas in the Western Cape, and a shortage of Braille question papers in Schools for the Blind, he said.
Seven million learners in Grades 1 to 6 and Grade 9 successfully completed the 2012 ANA tests written between 18 and 21 September 2012.
The tests were introduced by the department to measure the country's improvement in learning in specific grades and subjects. ANA tests require all public schools, and independent schools subsidised by government to conduct the same grade-specific language and mathematics tests.
Language tests cover the learner's home language and their first additional language, teachers mark the ANA tests using the departmental guidelines. The tests are moderated by officials of the various provincial education departments to ensure that similar standards are upheld across all schools.
Lesufi said that learners in the John Taolo Gaetsewe District in the Northern Cape, where learning and teaching has been disrupted over the past few months, will write their ANA tests as soon as schooling returns to normal.
The department commended the provincial education departments as well as district officials, principals, parents and the millions of learners, who sat for the tests.
It announced that parents will receive their children's marked scripts at dates to be determined by individual schools.
