More schools for special needs pupils
JOBURG – Gauteng MEC for Education, Phanyaza Lesufi, has announced that 18 schools for pupils with special needs would be opened in the province.
However, Gauteng Department of Education spokesperson, Phumla Sekhonyane, said this did not mean that all these schools would have to be built from scratch. “The department is exploring the possibility of using empty schools as special schools,” Sekhonyane said. Another option was to expand additional support programmes such as for autism at current special schools.
“This is viewed as an interim measure while pursuing options to build the required number of schools. Currently, one special school is under construction close to Alexandra and it is expected to be functional in 2017.”
Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng spokesperson for education, Alan Fuchs, welcomed the move but said the construction of these facilities was not sufficient to ensure that quality outcomes were achieved for these special needs pupils.
Fuchs said, “Oversight visits to a number of special needs schools by the Education Portfolio Committee have revealed a number of shortcomings in this arena. Many of these schools have infrastructure deficits, including dilapidated buildings in which to teach, and no facilities for private counselling.”
In addition, he said the skills levels of educators at special needs schools were questionable, as they often did not have the specialised expertise necessary for these environments. Fuchs said a number of special needs schools have raised concerns that they were not able to get support from district officials, as many of these officials did not have the requisite skills themselves to support the educators.
“Unfortunately, the lack of support provided by district officers is not unique to special needs schools and remains a critical structure which needs to be addressed,” he said.
Fuchs added that the DA would work closely with the education department and portfolio committee to ensure that pupils attending both new and existing special needs schools were given the quality education they deserve. “Further, that educators and district officials have the requisite skills and drive to set standards of excellence for these and all pupils of Gauteng,” he said.
