Stigmas and barriers of access see up to 600 000 special needs children unable to attend school in South Africa, says Robyn Beere, the deputy director at the Equal Education Law Centre. MatieMedia’s Aiden Louw reports about the children marginalized by the education system, and looks into possible solutions.
“My son was diagnosed with high-functioning Asperger’s [in 2021],” says Amanda Mostert, a Stellenbosch resident, and the mother of 8-year-old Nicholas.
At the time of his diagnosis, Nicholas had been attending Stellenbosch Primary School, says Mostert. For her son to continue coping in the mainstream schooling environment, Mostert says that she had to pay additional fees for private tutors, occupational and speech therapists.
“I couldn’t afford it anymore,” says Mostert. “I had to take him out of the school.”
Short-changed
“Special needs schools have waiting lists that are 3 to 6 years long,” says Zaida Frank, the operations manager at Autism Western Cape. “It is a challenge we face daily with many of our beneficiaries. The need for more special needs schools and/or funding to upskill those schools and mainstream schools, is sorely lacking,” adds Frank. PHOTO: Aiden Louw
The upskilling of ordinary schools to accommodate special needs learners is a daily challenge, says Zaida Frank, the operations manager at Autism Western Cape.
“Provinces are not specifically funded for inclusive or specialised education from National Treasury in the equitable share,” says Millicent Merton, spokesperson for the Western Cape Education Department.
Merton says that there are 72 special education schools in the Western Cape, compared to 1 455 ordinary schools.
Given this context, finding a suitable school for Nicholas was no easy task, says Mostert. “Here in Cloetesville, they have Dorothea [a special learning school]. But that is for severe issues. So, because he is high functioning on the Autism spectrum, he actually just needed smaller classes,” she explains.
After looking around, Mostert found a cottage school in Somerset West that Nicholas could attend. However, complications regarding competencies of the school, as well as concerns of abuse, soon arose, alleges Mostert. She was, once again, forced to bring Nicholas home.
Amanda Mostert (left) and her son, Nicholas Mostert (right), live in Stellenbosch. Nicholas was diagnosed with high-functioning Asperger’s in 2021, and since then Mostert says that she has struggled to find appropriate schooling for him. When she did find a school, it was far from home and the time that it took to drive there resulted in her having to close her business, she says. PHOTO: Supplied/Amanda Mostert
According to Mostert, Nicholas was due to be enrolled at FutureSmart, a special education centre, in 2023.
The special need for schools
Schools that focus on developing the skills of special needs children are critical, says Frank. This is not only for educational purposes, but because they also “learn to socialise and contribute meaningfully to society in a way that adds value to their lives”.
Edu-Play is a special learning school in Durbanville that aims to do just this, according to Antoinette du Preez, Edu-Play’s program manager.
Lize du Toit, Carolyn Coetzee and Antoinette du Preez, work at Edu-Play, a special learning school in Durbanville. According to Coetzee, the school fills a gap left by other special education schools that only accept children from schoolgoing age. “Our youngest is 3, and 35 is the supposed maximum. But, we do have one a bit older, because what do you do with them? Send them away?” says Coetzee. PHOTO: Aiden Louw
“We assume competence,” says Du Preez. “Sometimes [special learning schools] package things, whereas we’re trying to optimize each individual so that they have interests, but also something that they’re good at so that they’re going to be productive members of society.”
Finding the right school for a special needs child can be an ill-lit, and sometimes bumpy, road, explains Lize du Toit, director at Edu-Play. “The majority of our learners are the kiddos who have been everywhere,” she says. “There’s a lot of trauma.”
“Either they get to a point, or an age, where other [special learning] schools say ‘Ok, sorry, we can’t do anything anymore if you don’t function academically or behaviourally’,” adds Carolyn Coetzee, also a director at Edu-Play.
Bumpy roads and new beginnings
“None of the creches wanted to take my twins when they were younger,” says Justine Quinn, mother of 13-year-old Cillian and Isabella.
13-year-old twins Cillian (front) and Isabella (back) Quinn both attend Edu-Play, a special learning school in Durbanville. “Cillian is never going to play sport, he’s never going to do a spelling test, he’s never going to type, he’s never going to talk, he’s never going to walk […] The fact that he’s alive is a miracle,” says Justine Quinn, mother of Cillian and Isabella. “The fact that he actually breathes is my miracle.” She says that Edu-Play has created a supportive environment for her twins, but also for herself. PHOTO: Supplied/Justine Quinn
“My son is in a wheelchair and non-verbal, and my daughter has cerebral palsy and autism and was still in nappies. Creches don’t want to take children who still wear nappies, and if you say they have cerebral palsy, forget it. It’s not even happening,” shares Quinn.
Once her twins began attending special schools, Quinn claims that they faced abuse. She alleges that the teachers were unable to handle her daughter’s behaviours.
Cillian and Isabella now attend Edu-Play, where Quinn says they are receiving a much better quality of education.
Cillian Quinn is nonverbal and uses a wheelchair, says his mother, Justine Quinn. “I know my child is never going to write the ABC’s […] His progress is slow, but it is progress.” To Quinn, Cillian’s progress is his happy disposition, she says. PHOTO: Supplied/Justine Quinn
“Edu-Play is lovely. It’s not as rigid and it’s a more loving environment and I get daily progress reports on my children,” she says. “Every parent wants their child to do well.”
Stopping the stigma
Edu-Play has been applying for expansion at local authorities since 2019 to be able to accommodate more learners, according to Du Toit. “All of our kiddos are growing up, and that’s why we need to grow and expand, because where are they going to go?” says Coetzee.
“Every child should be able to learn alongside their community peers,” says Robyn Beere, the deputy director at the Equal Education Law Centre, explaining that many special needs children are unable to attend school. “Aspergers is high-functioning autism. So, those kids can quite easily be accommodated in an ordinary school,” she adds. PHOTO: Aiden Louw
Their first application for the expansion had been approved by the local town planners, but objected to by some neighbours, which threw them into a spiral of delays as they await approval, she explains.
“The neighbours think that our kids are dangerous,” claims Du Toit. “There’s a lot of stigma. They think that if they are special-needs kids, then they must be dangerous.”
Du Toit alleges that neighbours of the school have begun flying drones over their property to take pictures of how many children there are to ensure that they are not violating their zoning rules.
“They also say that our children are noisy,” adds Du Preez. “When most of them are actually nonverbal.”
Special learning schools should operate as training centres for mainstream schools who are including special needs learners, according to Robyn Beere, the deputy director at the Equal Education Law Centre, an organisation that offers legal support where learners rights are prejudiced. AUDIO: Aiden Louw
Stigma stems from the unknown, says Frank. Following this logic, she believes that empathy and tolerance can be grown by educating people about those with disabilities.
One way that this can be achieved is through real inclusion of special needs children in ordinary schools, says Beere.
“In a fully inclusive education system, you wouldn’t have special schools. There wouldn’t be a parallel stream of education,” she says.
Frank emphasises the importance of dismantling stigma from the schooling level, “because these are our future leaders and our future generations of people who will become empathetic adults who are accepting and tolerant of all individuals”.