Calls for special needs school in Knysna
KNYSNA - Members of the South African Communist Party and local councillors and residents took to the streets of Knysna last week to make their cries for a special needs school in the town heard.
The march started at the Knysna Provincial Hospital at 09:00 on Friday 1 April and aimed to reach the Western Cape Department of Education offices in Queen Street by 11:00 to hand over their memorandum of demands.
The demands included the following, quoted from the memorandum:
▪ The building of a school for children with special needs such as autism in particular in Knysna.
▪ Whilst waiting for the realisation of the above, we demand that the Department of Education makes provision for scholar transport to transport all [special needs] learners who must travel from Knysna to George at the cost of their poor parents.
▪ We demand that a primary school be built in Ward 3 in Knysna to curb the fatal accidents that often happen to our children when crossing the busy N2 to attend school in other areas.
▪ We desperately need a public library in Ward 3 for both members of the public as well as learners staying in the ward and nearby areas.
▪ Knysna deserves to have a tertiary institution of her own to cut on the exorbitant costs that parents have to pay for rentals for their children who for various reasons may not be successful in the application for funding by NSFAS.
The memorandum was accepted on behalf of the WC Department of Education by the circuit manager of the Eden and Central Karoo District (ECKD), Suzette de Villiers, and the head of management and governance in the ECKD, Anton Titus.
The department was given 14 days to respond to the memorandum.