Special needs children at a Port Alfred township school face a bleak future without funding.Worried parents and teachers of the 22 pupils at Enkuthazweni school for the disabled yesterday said they had been battling for years to get department of education funding.
Retired teacher Nompumelelo Qwemesha, who has been working at Enkuthazweni for more than four years, said even though the department regularly referred children to the school, they had to rely on donations to survive.
She said four more children were being assessed by school psychologists with a view to transferral even though they could close down in three months.
Qwemesha said they thought things would improve after a delegation from the district and Bhisho visited nine months ago and told them to submit an application for funding. “We did all the paperwork but have still heard nothing.”
She said despite years of “arguing” with officials to pay volunteer teacher salaries or appoint staff nothing had been done.
Education spokesman Loyiso Pulumani yesterday said they had visited the school last year and although it was an independent institution, the department was finalising its annual budget and looking at ways to include them.
Pulumani said the department was considering making Enkuthaweni a satellite school of Kuyasa special needs school in Grahamstown.
According to Qwemesha, most pupils at the school have foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and cannot cope in big classes at state schools.
Enkuthaweni, which was started in 1997, has survived on donor funding and the goodwill of students from a Dutch university who are studying in Port Alfred.
Stenden South Africa community development head Mzameli Dikeni, who chairs the school board, said recent tough economic times had resulted in regular business donors pulling the plug on monthly funding.
“If nothing changes by April, the school will have to close.”
Funds dry up for Kowie special school
Worried parents and teachers of the 22 pupils at Enkuthazweni school for the disabled yesterday said they had been battling for years to get department of education funding.
Retired teacher Nompumelelo Qwemesha, who has been working at Enkuthazweni for more than four years, said even though the department regularly referred children to the school, they had to rely on donations to survive.
She said four more children were being assessed by school psychologists with a view to transferral even though they could close down in three months.
Qwemesha said they thought things would improve after a delegation from the district and Bhisho visited nine months ago and told them to submit an application for funding. “We did all the paperwork but have still heard nothing.”
She said despite years of “arguing” with officials to pay volunteer teacher salaries or appoint staff nothing had been done.
Education spokesman Loyiso Pulumani yesterday said they had visited the school last year and although it was an independent institution, the department was finalising its annual budget and looking at ways to include them.
Pulumani said the department was considering making Enkuthaweni a satellite school of Kuyasa special needs school in Grahamstown.
According to Qwemesha, most pupils at the school have foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and cannot cope in big classes at state schools.
Enkuthaweni, which was started in 1997, has survived on donor funding and the goodwill of students from a Dutch university who are studying in Port Alfred.
Stenden South Africa community development head Mzameli Dikeni, who chairs the school board, said recent tough economic times had resulted in regular business donors pulling the plug on monthly funding.
“If nothing changes by April, the school will have to close.”
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