From 2020, children with special needs will have the chance to learn vocational skills right in the heart of Chartwell.
Unity College, which educates children with mild to medium intellectual disabilities, will be soon be opening its new Vocational Training Centre (VTC) on campus, which is currently being constructed.
This is the first vocational training facility of its kind in South Africa and will help special needs children learn skills that will one day help them gain employment and become independent members of society.
“A facility like the VTC is so important because people with intellectual disabilities have for so long been forgotten by society,” explained Johann Ackerman, the manager of the facility.
“These people are just as entitled to equal opportunities as the rest of society. Neurotypical people misunderstand non-neurotypical persons and therefore tend to ignore their existence or avoid contact.
“Breaking those barriers is my biggest dream and ambition and by empowering these people, we may just achieve that.”
The VTC will be set up for people with intellectual disabilities to get practical and theoretical training in a specific vocation and will comprise a coffee shop and laundry.
“We are putting in a lot of effort in creating an environment where our students will learn the different aspects of working in a commercial kitchen, a restaurant as well as a commercial laundry.”
Both the laundry and the coffee shop will be opened to members of the public on 14 February next year, at which point Unity College learners will be learning in an environment as real as one can get. The facilities will be open to the public Mondays to Fridays, and community members are invited to support them.
“The VTC will open doors to employment for Unity children, but much more than that, it will provide study opportunities for the multitude of special needs people out there that have such a bleak employment future.
“Once trained, a student could find employment with an industry-accepted qualification or become an entrepreneur with the sky as the limit,” Ackerman concluded.
Details: For more information, visit Unity College’s website www.unity-college.org.za
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