Kwazulu-Natal Premier Promises Funds for Special Schools

Thathezakhe Special School in the Mzinyathi District will stay closed until its needs are fully met, says Dudu Moloi, chair of the School Governing Body.

• The South African National Association for Special Education (SANASE) has urged schools to re-open in KwaZulu-Natal after a meeting with Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli in which he promised to meet some of their demands.
• The schools have been closed since term started on 13 October in protest against lack of funds, shortages of staff and inadequate learner transport and accommodation.
• Some schools have re-opened but other schools plan to stay closed until all their demands have been met.

​​​​Special schools in KwaZulu-Natal are opening again after Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli promised to meet some of their demands. But some schools say they will not open until all their needs have been met.

Schools had been closed by parents and the South African National Association for Special Education (SANASE) since term started on 13 October, in protest against late payments of subsidies by the provincial education department, and failure to meet their demands for more staff, better transport and adequate accommodation for learners.

After a meeting on 28 October between the leadership of the South African National Association for Special Education (SANASE), the Premier and MEC for Education Sipho Hlomuka, the Premier said failure to meet all the demands was due to “funding shortfalls”.

He said 350 new support staff had been recruited and appointed, and a meeting had been scheduled to discuss filling the other 707 posts which had been identified. The education department had committed to speeding up repairs to school buses and getting more buses, he said.

“We are hoping that the Premier will honour his promises because our children have rights so they have bright futures,” said parent Bonginhlanhla Mjwara, whose child is at Khalipa Special School in KwaMashu. The school is due to re-open on Monday.

“The Premier promised us that he is going to have a meeting with the provincial MEC for Finance to see if he can assist,” said Khehla Khumalo, deputy chairperson of SANASE.

“We understand that not everything we need is going to be fulfilled but we are happy that we are going to have good communications with the Premier in future. We urge all principals to open schools and parents to send their learners to schools while waiting for the Premier to respond,” said Khumalo.

But Dudu Moloi, chair of the School Governing Body at Thathezakhe Special School in the Mzinyathi District, said the school would stay closed until their demands were fully met.

She said the school has still not received its funds; one of the school buses still needs repairs; classrooms are overcrowded and there is no staff room or hostel.

“We enrolled 346 learners and 350 are on the waiting list because we have only four overcrowded prefab classrooms,” Moloi said. The principal shares one prefab with office administrators and one is used for the kitchen, she said.

Staff who are not teaching have to prepare lessons in their cars, said Moloi.

Inkosi Thathezakhe Special School has 350 learners on a waiting list, according to Dudu Moloi, chairperson of the School Governing Body.

Inkanyiso Special School in Vryheid has opened, but some parents have kept learners at home until all their demands are met. Learners at Inkanyiso share a hostel with the neighbouring high school, which is not designed for learners with disabilities, said School Governing Body member Nozipho Buthelezi.

The hostel has no ramp for wheelchair users and bathrooms and basins have no rails.

“Even our school premises show that the government has forgotten us. There is no paving, no benches on the learners’ sports field or around the school premises. Our learners need special attention,” Buthelezi said.

In March 2023, parents from 74 special schools in the province kept their children from school for two months in protest, complaining that the provincial department was neglecting special schools. In April this year, learners marched to the Premier’s office with parents and teachers. Learners returned to class when the department promised to provide new buses and more funds for support staff.

Disabled learners have to climb stairs in the hostel which is shared with another school, says Nozipho Buthelezi, chair of the School Governing Body.

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