Drive to improve services for ‘differently abled’ pupils

There is a huge need for skills development among pupils with disabilities in Buffalo City Metro, and there are not enough support facilities, such as special schools, to cater for them.

The provincial education department says it is on a mission to formulate a system in the Eastern Cape where those with special educational needs can attend mainstream schools.

Luzanne Fouche, an expert in the care of children living with spectrum disorders such as autism, said there was a big need for facilities that specialised in taking care of such pupils.

In 2009, Fouche opened the doors to Ikamva Support Centre, a special needs school in Gonubie, East London.

She said a dispute with the department of education had recently forced her to close the centre’s doors. By the time her school had developed, it served close to 400 pupils.

“The need for these facilities is excessive,” she said.

“In 2009, when I opened Ikamva, the number of children waiting to get into special schools was 3,500. Over the years I saw the agony in parents’ faces when they had nowhere to take their children.”

Fouche is now working with her mother, who is the founder of a school which specialises in the care of children living with autism.

Amanda Somekata, the school governing body chair at Vukuhambe Special School in Mdantsane, said the lack of skills development was a grave concern for parents.

Vukuhambe serves children from grades R to 12 and has a hostel for some of them.

“Artisan skills could go a long way,” she said. “That would mean our children could have a bright future, instead of moping around in the township after they are done with school and have nothing to do.

“We have seen teenage pregnancy and alcohol abuse among learners living with disabilities in our area. They need to feel empowered and capable. That could be through recreational activities so they don’t feel trapped in a prison.”

Simon Ncapayi, the acting director of inclusive education at the provincial department, said the rationale behind the aim for inclusivity in schools was that the country was developing an inclusive society.

“We can no longer justify the exclusion of disabled [pupils] in mainstream education, as there is no special world for the disabled child to enter after secondary education.”

Ncapayi said the department of education was “aligning” the 46 special schools in the province, using the Convention on the Rights of People With Disabilities policy as a guide.

“It stipulates that no child may be refused education at any school based on disability,” he said.

“This policy argues that exclusion of learners from mainstream schools based on their disability is the same as the unjust practice of excluding citizens from certain occupations, opportunities and schools based on their race, class, religion or gender.”

He said 22 nurses had been employed at special schools with hostels, “except two schools which could not get the qualifying candidate”.

“Of the 68 targeted specialists to be employed, 51 are already employed, while five are waiting for letters of employment.”

Ncapayi said three schools for the blind had been given R6m each for the development of Braille centres.

“The province has expanded its autism schools by three, which will be operational in January 2022.”

The province has also expanded its autism schools by three