Kimberley – Parents of children with disabilities in the Northern Cape have accused the government of denying their children access to education.
This follows complaints by parents about the lack of accommodation for children with special needs who do not reside in Kimberley.
Elizabeth Conradie is the only school for physically disabled pupils that has hostel facilities, after the Northern Cape Department of Education merged Boitumelo and Retlameleng hostels with Elizabeth Conradie in 2004.
A heartbroken mother said on Wednesday that her seven-year-old daughter, who is deaf, has to travel 140km by bus every day from Warrenton to Kimberley and back to attend school at Retlameleng School for the Disabled.
“My daughter is in Grade 1 and it is heartbreaking to see her having to wake up so early every morning to prepare for school and travel 70km to Kimberley to attend school. She has to catch the bus at 6am and is forced to wake up even earlier so that she can get ready and dressed for school. At such a young age, it really puts a lot of strain on her body and mental health to carry such a burden. After school she has to endure another 70km back home. This is a lot for such a young child to take on,” the mother said.
She added that she has previously tried alternatives in order to ensure that her daughter received an education.
“In 2014 I took my daughter to the Department of Education for her to be assessed and ascertain whether she was ready for school. They said she was ready and I took her to Retlameleng. I was informed that there was no accommodation, so I took her to school in Johannesburg that offered hostel facilities. It was very hard to have her so far away from me but I had no other choice as I wanted to provide her with an education. I was, however, disappointed to see the circumstances under which she was living and I removed her from the school at the end of that year."
“In 2015 I let her attend a daycare centre in Warrenton to keep busy, but I could see I was doing her an injustice. This year I took her to Retlameleng but the lack of accommodation is putting strain on her learning,” she said.
Another parent said that she has to pay hundreds of rands a month for her disabled child to travel from Barkly West.
“I have to pay R800 a month for my child to attend school in Kimberley. This is also a huge financial burden as we do not have any alternative income besides her disability grant. Most of her grant goes towards covering her travelling costs. If there was a hostel where she could have been accommodated, the financial strain wouldn’t be so great."
“There is really a dire need for another accommodation facility for children with physical disabilities, as there are many affected children in the Province who now cannot attend school due to the lack of accommodation,” she said.
The Department of Education’s provincial spokesperson, Geoffrey van der Merwe, said that the department took the decision to merge the hostels due to the low number of pupils.
“The department can confirm that 68 pupils with special needs from Retlameleng were accommodated at Elizabeth Conradie in 2016.
In 2004, the department took a conscious decision to merge three special school hostels, namely Boitumelo, Retlameleng and Elizabeth Conradie, in the Kimberley area due to the significant drop in the number of pupils in need of accommodation at our special schools.
This proved to be more viable and sustainable and provided us with an opportunity to expand skills programmes at these schools using the existing hostel infrastructure,” said Van der Merwe.
He said that R10 million had been earmarked for the upgrading of the hostel facility at Elizabeth Conradie.
“The Elizabeth Conradie Special School is a provincial resource and therefore the department allocated R10 million to upgrade the hostel. The upgrade is nearing the end of phase one, with the second phase about to commence. Phase one, which started in March 2016, included the electrical reticulation, solar boiler replacement, plumbing, flooring and a portion of the roof, after a fire caused damaged to a portion of the hostel. Phase one will be completed by the end of this month."
“Phase two will include general maintenance, room refurbishments, beds, paintwork, hang ceiling replacement with insulation, identified sections of the roof and ablution upgrades, to mention a few."
“Parents seeking accommodation for their pupils placed at any of the three schools, must engage the prospective principals of these schools in order for their child to be accommodated at the Elizabeth Conradie School hostel.”
The department also denied claims that the lack of accommodation was caused by a lack of staff at hostels.
“We are aware of the situation relating to the shortage of staff and are working on a plan to address this shortcoming. Given the situation, we are reprioritising as part of our approach. Principals that have hostels on the premises of their schools are required to be the superintendents of these hostels. This is the case at Elcon, which is regarded as a provincial hostel, meaning that it accommodates pupils from Boitumelo and Retlameleng special schools.”
The vice-chairperson for the National Council of Persons with Disabilities, Dorothy-Anne Howitson, said despite the fact that government signed a White Paper on the Rights of People with Disabilities in 2015, it was still not doing what it had subscribed to.
“The sad fact is that Retlameleng School had to close their hostel as they and Elizabeth Conradie School don’t get sufficient funding for both schools. If the department had funded the hostels of both schools adequately, the stress on the children and parents would be far less,” said Howitson.
“It is disgusting how government is treating schools for children with special needs. Very few special schools are accessible to the pupils in need of them. It is heartbreaking, as children with a disability already have the challenge of having to live with their disability, yet still have to fight to be included in society.”