Khayalethu Special School, which caters for children with autism, will soon receive bigger and better premises.
Situated in Haven Hills, East London, the new premises will offer facilities to suit both physically disabled children and children living with autism.
The school will also offer hostel facilities, a scarcity in the province for children with special needs.
Education department spokesman Malibongwe Mtima said the new, bigger school building was being constructed in an attempt to address the current shortage of special schools in the Eastern Cape and especially in the East London district.
Mtima said there were currently 46 special schools in the province catering for children with all types of learning and physical disabilities as well as various mental conditions.
Most of these were full to capacity, with long waiting lists.
“We as the department have noted that the demand for special schools is very high, especially in East London, because there are currently only two. We only have Khayalethu and Parklands,” Mtima said.
“Initially we had thought that the new facilities would only be for existing Khayalethu pupils but we decided to open it up to kids from different areas as well.
“There will also be prefabs put up outside the school to cater for any additional children that require enrolment.”
Antoinette Bruce-Alexander, the regional development officer for Autism South Africa, said it was good news for East London.
Bruce-Alexander said numbers showed that 2% of the South African population are living with autism, with only 1% receiving the intervention they required.
She said the biggest challenge was children coming from pre-school looking to be enrolled in a special school.
“There is just no space. Last I checked, Parklands had a waiting list of around five years and I know it was shorter for Khayalethu, but not by much,” she said. “These parents wait for years and the child sits at home or in other facilities which are not conducive.
“These children often regress because in many cases they are looked after by nannies or relatives who don’t have the training to deal with such children.”
Mtima said their end goal was to have a special school in every district.
“The MEC has made a pledge to try and make this a reality by the year 2017.
“In many cases you find children from places like Qumbu or Ngcobo are sending their children to East London and Port Elizabeth to try to get them enrolled in a special school because there are no schools for them that side.
“This creates a problem where children from that town are not accepted into their own schools because they are full.
“So our aim is to build a special school to serve a particular town where children from other towns will not be accepted. This is how we are trying to address the need for more special schools,” he said. — zisandan@dispatch.co.za
Huge boost for autism school
Situated in Haven Hills, East London, the new premises will offer facilities to suit both physically disabled children and children living with autism.
The school will also offer hostel facilities, a scarcity in the province for children with special needs.
Education department spokesman Malibongwe Mtima said the new, bigger school building was being constructed in an attempt to address the current shortage of special schools in the Eastern Cape and especially in the East London district.
Mtima said there were currently 46 special schools in the province catering for children with all types of learning and physical disabilities as well as various mental conditions.
Most of these were full to capacity, with long waiting lists.
“We as the department have noted that the demand for special schools is very high, especially in East London, because there are currently only two. We only have Khayalethu and Parklands,” Mtima said.
“Initially we had thought that the new facilities would only be for existing Khayalethu pupils but we decided to open it up to kids from different areas as well.
“There will also be prefabs put up outside the school to cater for any additional children that require enrolment.”
Antoinette Bruce-Alexander, the regional development officer for Autism South Africa, said it was good news for East London.
Bruce-Alexander said numbers showed that 2% of the South African population are living with autism, with only 1% receiving the intervention they required.
She said the biggest challenge was children coming from pre-school looking to be enrolled in a special school.
“There is just no space. Last I checked, Parklands had a waiting list of around five years and I know it was shorter for Khayalethu, but not by much,” she said. “These parents wait for years and the child sits at home or in other facilities which are not conducive.
“These children often regress because in many cases they are looked after by nannies or relatives who don’t have the training to deal with such children.”
Mtima said their end goal was to have a special school in every district.
“The MEC has made a pledge to try and make this a reality by the year 2017.
“In many cases you find children from places like Qumbu or Ngcobo are sending their children to East London and Port Elizabeth to try to get them enrolled in a special school because there are no schools for them that side.
“This creates a problem where children from that town are not accepted into their own schools because they are full.
“So our aim is to build a special school to serve a particular town where children from other towns will not be accepted. This is how we are trying to address the need for more special schools,” he said. — zisandan@dispatch.co.za
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