Special needs schools say they’re being neglected

Special needs education and services (SNES) and school bodies have voiced their concerns about the neglect shown to special needs schools by the department of education, district directors and managers.

Speaking to the The Witness, educational psychologist, social worker and former deputy director of department of SNES, Logan Govender, said SNES has been going above and beyond for special needs schools in terms of identifying and appropriately placing pupils presenting with barriers to learning.

However, it is overburdened by the lack of support from the department and sectors at the district level.
Govender said he does not think district directors and managers fully understand various conditions or physical/ neurological barriers to learning for pupils with Down syndrome, LSPID, paraplegia, autism, SMH, epilepsy, cerebral palsy etc.

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“I was a deputy director of SNES in the King Cetshwayo district for a few years and they expected us to do the circuit managers’ job, the curriculum advisors’ job, among others, but now the group is fast wearing out. The department would only visit the schools when someone complained about something or to fire someone,” said Govender.

He added that the department is not training enough teachers and teacher aids on how to deal with special needs children because each child has different needs.

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They need to have workshops and training sessions to help curb the shortage of teachers and teacher aids in special needs schools, and they need to build more schools because there aren’t enough special schools.

Special needs school principal’s

The Witness also spoke to a special needs school principal, who asked to remain unnamed.

He said another issue they have at their school is the lack of support staff.

He said the support staff are not employed by the department, but by the school governing body (SGB) and this is a huge problem that most schools are facing. Another issue, he said, is that of school buses, which are supplied by the department.

When buses are taken for repairs, they are taken away for almost six months. This means that the pupils who are dependent/ reliant on the bus have a problem coming to school

“We have had an instance where we didn’t have a bus from the beginning of the year until October and parents had to pay from their own pockets for the pupils to get to school. They had to hire a taxi from town to here and it was very costly for them,” said the source.

He said when these buses come back from repairs, they are only operational for about a month or two and then they are broken again.

“The department promised to give us new buses, and we are still waiting for them,” said the source.

Meanwhile, a former special needs school principal, who asked not to be named, said special needs schools are being treated like daycare centres nowadays, because there is no meaningful education taking place.

One of the main challenges for me when I was principal was the placement of pupils and the curriculum. There was always a waiting list for those schools because there aren’t enough schools for special needs children. I think there are only about eight special needs schools in the district and that makes it impossible for all those schools to cater for all children with disabilities.

Speaking on the curriculum, the former principal said the Department of Education has failed special needs children.

“People in the education department are treating our special children as if they are normal children.

They wanted special needs children to be taught the same curriculum as normal children. Now obviously the special needs child would have a problem because of their comprehension, memorisation, and understanding. Every child is different and each child should be treated differently because they have different strengths and weaknesses.

He added that the mindset needs to change because these children are called special needs children because they need special attention and, according to the Constitution, every child has the right to an appropriate education.

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Department of Education

Meanwhile, the Department of Education spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said special needs schools are in fact receiving serious attention.

The evidence of that is the resources that we deploy to these schools. We understand that it is not enough by nature of the services that they offer and the pupils that they cater to.

He said budget cuts are the problem.