Raw deal for disabled kids, elderly

HRC disappointed in KZN

DISABLED children at special needs schools in rural areas and the elderly are getting a raw deal in parts of KwaZuluNatal.

Not enough money, too few teachers, poor infrastructure, inadequate transport and unlawful grant deductions were among a host of problems that emerged during the Human Rights Commission’s ( HRC) visit to the province as part of a nationwide assessment of the rights of disabled children and the elderly.

During its visit last week, the HRC, led by commissioner Bonankatla Malatji, visited two special needs schools in Stanger and Mpangeni as well as an old-age home in Verulam.

It held stakeholder meetings and community talks with organisations representing the disabled and older people in Durban.

Speaking to the Daily News yesterday, Malatji said they found that special needs schools in the rural areas, specifically those for children with mental disabilities, lacked support staff.

“The Department of Education must do more to ensure disabled children receive education like able-bodied children. They must provide more support to these schools,” he said.

Malatji said these schools lacked access to nurses, psychologists and therapists.

Infrastructure was found to be lacking.

“In a school in eMpangeni, children from rural areas do not have transport to and from school. This could be a big barrier between education and the children.”

He found the lack of quali- fied teachers at special needs schools deplorable.

“What was worrying was a question of vacancies because of a moratorium placed by the provincial government. In most of these schools the explanation for vacancies was that there was a moratorium,” Malatji said.

“The result is that teachers are overworked. People who do not have necessary skills are forced to assume duties they are not trained for.”

Finding

Malatji said they found that illegal deduction of grant money by unscrupulous service providers affected many elderly people in the province.

“That came up during our stakeholder engagement. Fortunately, we were with Social Development Department (staff) and we asked them to address it because it was raised.”

He said the department reported it was talking to service providers that had unlawfully made deductions from old-age pensions.

Malatji said non-governmental organisations running old-age homes raised concerns about inadequate subsidies.

“We expect the old-age homes to have nursing staff, be compliant with safety measures in terms of infrastructure and Older Persons Act. The issue of funding is that it is too little to cover staffing and pay their salaries.”

He said the commission could not get a response from the department because the senior personnel in the department were not present.

“This problem should be brought to their attention. Those responsible for disabled children, special (needs) schools and older persons are doing a good job. It is just that the government should give them financial support,” Malatji said.

While he could not rate the performance of KZN compared with other provinces, Malatji said the trend was that special schools and old-age homes did not have support staff.

“As the HRC we are expected to compile and submit a yearly report on disabled children and older persons to Parliament with all the findings and recommendations,” Malatji said.

The HRC will visit Limpopo and North west before compiling its report.

Responding to the HRC findings, KZN Education Department spokesman, Muzi Mahlambi, said they were not aware of the commission’s findings on its special needs schools.

“We are open to engagement by anyone who wants to get clarity, more especially if it is a Chapter 9 institution.”

Mahlambi said the department advertised posts quarterly and the current bulletin for posts closes next month and the last for this year in October.

“It is to accommodate attrition and teacher-pupil ratio. We acknowledge we are unable to staff schools as we would like to,” he said before blaming an inadequate budget for the situation.

“In terms of transport, we are the first to acknowledge that while we provide it, it does not reach all pupils. The limitation is because of money not being available.”