Joy as special needs schools get transport
Makupula hands over 10 buses to institutions
EASTERN Cape Education MEC Mandla Makupula on Wednesday handed over 10 new buses to 10 special needs schools in the province.
The official handover was held at Parklands Special School in Beacon Bay. Principals of the 10 schools, including Parklands, and officials from their respective districts were in attendance at the handover ceremony.
The department spent R6.2million from its 2016-17 budget on the Mercedes-Benz 16- and 23seater buses after identifying schools with critical needs.
Speaking at the handover, Makupula said it was the department’s way of making society more inclusive for people with disabilities.
“It is our responsibility as a department to ensure that pupils with special needs are ferried safely from their homes to the school and back,” he said.
“Whether they are rich or poor, they should be able to access decent education.
“Being disabled is not a disgrace. A disgrace is having children in a modern and civilised country like South Africa being hidden.”
Of the six newly-established special schools in the province, which has a total of 45, three received buses, including East London-based College Street Primary School. This year, College Street had its first intake of children with special needs, accommodating just over 120 pupils.
College Street headmaster, Craig Graham, said he was delighted about the handover, but warned there was also a critical need for staff.
“The department is doing its best, but like everywhere else, there are challenges. There is a massive need for staff and especially drivers and support staff,” Graham said.
The department has still not allocated drivers for pupils with special needs at College Street and Fort Beaufort Special School.
Department spokesman Mali Mtima said the department will only employ drivers in the 201718 financial year.
“Drivers and support staff will only be employed at the start of the financial year and they will have to undergo special training that will equip them to be able to ferry children with special needs,” said Mtima.
The department also revealed steps that it will be taking this year to address the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) need.
Some 60 000 children in Eastern Cape alone are affected by autism and the department is working closely with NGOs like Autism South Africa and is preparing schools in East London to admit more children with autism, including Parklands, College Street and Khayalethu Special School. —