DA: Learners with special needs denied their right to good education

Almost 600 000 special needs learners are not attending school and the Department of Basic Education doesn’t know why‚ the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Tuesday.

The party’s Sonja Boshoff said minister Angie Motshekga should be summoned to appear before Parliament’s portfolio committee on basic education “to account for the lack of suitable support given to learners with special needs”.

To provide for the 597 953 learners with special needs are not attending school‚ “2300 new special schools will have to be built (with 300 learners per school)”.

This “unfeasible” demand emerged in a recent report on the Implementation of Education White Paper 6 which “evaluated the progress made at national and provincial level in expanding access to and the quality of education for learners with special needs between 2013 and 2015”‚ a statement from Boshoff said.

“This effectively means that learners with special needs are being denied their right to good education and as a consequence‚ the freedom and opportunity to pursue a better life and dignity through employment‚ which a quality education provides‚” Boshoff said.

“In lieu of the immediate erection of these schools‚ due to budgetary constraints‚ the minister must make clear what her interim plans are to ensure that these learners receive the education that is due to them.”

While “a strong emphasis” needs to be put on meeting the requirements of special needs learners “through dedicated schools‚ through special needs classes in mainstream schools or through support for accommodation of learners with special needs in mainstream classes…it is equally important to ensure that special needs pupils are taught by teachers who are properly trained”‚ Boshoff added.