Note to Editors: The following speech was delivered in Parliament today by DA Member of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, Sonja Boshoff MP, during the Budget Vote on Basic Education.
Honourable Chair,
Standing here today I can confirm that over half a million, or nearly 600 000, children with disabilities are not in schools.
These children are being denied their right to basic education as virtually no special needs schools – where most children with disabilities are erroneously sent – are ‘fee-free’ schools.
Children with disabilities are also forced to shoulder additional costs and fees in special schools typically differ as there are no set tariffs.
Location is also a problem – many special needs schools are located in urban areas with little or no boarding facilities. Where boarding facilities are available, we find waiting lists of up to 200 learners every year. If a child with disabilities is accommodated, staff are not always adequately trained.
This is why so many of our learners with disabilities do not attend school. The absence of money should never be a barrier to education. No child should be denied their right to learn because they cannot afford it.
The new grant for learners with profound intellectual disabilities is a step in the right direction for the sector but does not address many of the problems.
Special needs programmes suffer from a lack of qualified educators and specialised learning materials, just one example is a severe lack of braille books.
Physically disabled learners who do not have any cognitive disabilities can, with proper education, enter the labour market at the end of their matric year, and achieve great things: like the founder of Motswako Office Systems, Sebenzile Matsebula, or former Justice of the Constitutional Court, Zak Jacoob.
Yet, these learners sit at home or are sent to Day Care Centres where mothers of those communities assist in providing care whilst the parents are at work. These caregivers do their best but are not equipped to assist in stimulating these children cognitively or physically.
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) must finally acknowledge that all children must be able to learn and that all children need support. This can be done through enabling the education structures, systems and learning methodologies to meet the needs of all children.
Does the ANC government not think these children are worth the investment?
The DA is committed to allowing parents to make the best choices for their child, with special education programmes both in mainstream schools and in special needs schools.
In the Western Cape, where we govern, the government has worked tirelessly to improve access to specialised support in townships and rural areas, through multi-disciplinary teams and well-trained educators. In the 2017/2018 Western Cape Education budget, over R1.2 billion is allocated to Special Needs Education.
It really is amazing what can be achieved when a governing party focuses on its mandate to support its citizens, instead of dreaming up new schemes to defraud the public.