Dedicated mother creates own school to assist her son with special needs
MIDRAND – Sbonga Zungu and John Akidi Osakwe are changing the learning space for learners with special needs.
A dedicated mother has created a learning centre in Midrand, after she was unable to find one that could assist her son with special needs.
Mother Sbonga Zungu and John Akidi Osakwe from Equation Educators are hoping to transform the learning space with the Nkanyezi Tuition Centre for learners with special needs, an idea which came about after realising the need to make homeschooling similar to normal schooling.
Sbonga said that her son Nkanyezi was born in 2007 and at the age of two, while he was going to a nursery, his principal gave her a life-changing call. “She [the principal] made me aware that Nkanyezi’s development was slow compared to his peers and that he was falling behind at school.
“I really had no idea what was wrong as he is my first child, all I recalled was him being a healthy, bouncing baby and I thought everything was fine until I got that call, but fortunately I was never in denial.”
Sbonga said after that she and her husband decided to do everything in their power to give their son the best care and to find out what they needed to do to support him.
“When he was five years old, that’s when he was officially diagnosed with autism, then later with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) which I had no idea of, and soon after, we experienced two seizures which led to him being diagnosed with epilepsy.”
She added that it was hard dealing with all these things at once, but they tried to get as much information possible and educate themselves about what their son needs.
After struggling for 12 years to find the perfect school which would cater for her son, Sbonga decided last year to have him homeschooled.
That was when she discovered Osakwe from Equation Educators, the company she is partnering with to start the Nkanyezi Tuition Centre.
The centre is named after Sbonga’s son and will launch next year in January.
Sbonga added, “Homeschooling is the best form of schooling for any child because they can get undivided attention, but it also has its challenges, the child gets to be isolated because it is just him and the teacher.
“After sitting down with John, we thought we needed an alternative to close the gap because Nkanyezi is a special-needs child, he needs attention, and I am sure there are parents who feel the same way, that their children needed to be with other children.
Osakwe explained more about Equation Educators, “Everyone in the organisation is a professional educator, and with our value system, we want to make sure that no learner is left behind.
“We are registered as an education service provider and what we want to do is afford parents in the small locality like Midrand the small opportunity that Nkanyezi has, thus providing an environment that is less inclusive so the child is not left out and can get the best educational experience,” he concluded.
Details: Equation Educators, learn@equationeducators.com; 011 037 1016.
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