Support staff at Eastern Cape special needs schools under massive strain

One support staff member for every 32 special needs pupils.

This is the shameful situation at St Thomas School for the Deaf outside King William's Town.

Yet St Thomas is not the only special school in Buffalo City Metro battling staff shortages, with Vukuhambe Special School in Mdantsane also deeply concerned about how pupils will be taught with so few teachers available.

The two schools offer boarding facilities for their pupils.

DispatchLIVE spoke to representatives from the schools, who said  though Covid-19 standard operating procedures were followed, low  staff numbers were problematic.

Nondyebo Nyanda, a school governing body member at St Thomas, said hostel staff were taking strain.

“At the moment the ratio is one staff member to 32 learners at one go. How is that person supposed to do their due diligence for each individual child without taking strain? 

“Our school has learners who have to take medicine for various illnesses and who need attentive staff members who will make sure that they're taking their medicine and staying warm,” Nyanda said.

She said the school had opened its doors for its Grade 12 and Grade 7 pupils, and had briefly closed after a staff member tested positive for Covid-19.

Nyanda said the school had taken the department to task over the ongoing staff shortage.

  “According to the department's database there are 47 staff members at the school's hostel yet there are only 13 in total.

“As the SGB we have seen those names yet we don't recognise a majority of them. They're ghosts in the system who are probably getting paid for work they aren't doing,” Nyanda said.

DispatchLIVE sent questions to the Eastern Cape department of education's inclusive education officials. They had not responded by print deadline on Monday.

Amanda Someketa, SGB chair at Vukuhambe Special School in Mdantsane,  said they feared how things would go on Monday when schools opened for the rest of the grades. 

“For now, we are managing the situation as we have five Grade 12 learners. But come Monday, when all the children return, it will get difficult,” she said.

Someketa said the school had faced “ongoing support staff shortages” even before the pandemic.

“The department doesn't replace staff who retire, die or stay away with underlying conditions,” Someketa said.

Two support staff members at the school's hostel were responsible for 15 pupils, she added.

“One must understand that our learners at the school are disabled. Some are paraplegic and need close contact attention throughout the day.

“It becomes incredibly difficult for two people to try to stretch themselves with that much responsibility,” Someketa said.

“In some cases, children at the school depend on oxygen and have to be closely monitored as they are sick.” 

She said parents had tried to find solutions at the school's latest SGB meeting.

“It is sad that the department has sidelined special needs schools completely.” 

“When we met as parents, we further concluded that we have been kept in the dark for far too long. Even at national level, we seldom hear what the plan is for special needs schools,” Someketa said.  

DispatchLIVE

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