MBOMBELA -The provincial chairperson of DPSA, Patrick Mahlakwane, has accused the provincial government of destroying the children’s future, because, after completing primary level, they are forced to stay at home.

“The provincial government promised a secondary school for special needs children in 2011, but until today it has not been built. As a result, these children are suffering. While waiting for the provincial government to build us a school, they chose to build boarding schools throughout the province that do not accommodate children with disabilities, and ignored the special school project.

In the State of the Province Address of 2011, former premier David Mabuza said the Mpumalanga provincial government was planning to build a special school that would serve as a high school for children who had just completed their primary education. Now it has been about 12 years since the announcement was made, but still there is no school.

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“A Limpopo special school expelled 18 pupils from Mpumalanga a few years ago in 2018, claiming they were occupying space local learners could have been using. Now other provinces are also rejecting learners from this province. We have about 20 learners in KaMagagu who passed their primary level last year, but at the moment they are sitting at home, because they cannot go to other schools outside the province. Their future is ruined. Our government is violating our right to education,” he said.

Nicole Ntuli (24) of Barberton said her dream of becoming a social worker was ruined as she failed to go to secondary due to her condition. “Most of the schools in my area do not accommodate people with my condition, so even if I wanted to attend a normal school, I was not going to make it. My parents tried to get me in a school outside the province, but they couldn’t afford to take me out of the home area or afford a private school,” she said. Ntando Mayike (21) of Matafeni said, “I managed to do my primary level, but I couldn’t attend my secondary, because there is no school that will accommodate me. I will not cope at a normal school. I wish our government would build a school for all grades for people who need special help.”

The Mpumalanga Department of Education’s spokesperson, Jasper Zwane, said they accommodate learners with disabilities in all schools depending on the level of support required (mild, moderate, and high).

Parents are encouraged to communicate with the department in instances where they need information on assessment of learners and placement if they are still out of school, but those in schools are coordinated between the schools and the district office. There are 18 special schools and of that total number, five accommodate hearing-impaired learners and one admits the visually impaired. Efforts to build a special school for deaf and blind learners in Emalahleni Local Municipality are at an advisory stage.