Editorial: Special needs pupils sidelined

IF the chaos in the Eastern Cape Department of Education is hurting pupils in our city’s northern areas, spare a thought for the children with special needs in those classrooms because they are doubly disadvantaged. Earlier this month, The Herald reported a massive drop in last year’s matric pass rates in the northern areas, with not one school achieving a 100% pass rate. Certainly, there are many reasons for this, including violent protests last year, pupils pushed through despite failing, teacher shortages and classrooms bulging at the seams. On Monday the parents in the Northern Areas Education Forum (NAEF) added a desperate plea for special needs children be given the intervention they need. After all, with the shockingly low 56.8% pass rate in the metro as a whole, the minority of pupils who are dyslexic, autistic, can’t pay attention or face other educational challenges will simply slip through the cracks. However, these are far more than cracks, they are chasms through which too many children plummet, leading to an uneducated adult population with bleak employment prospects.

Apart from the human rights tragedy, it is devastating for our economy. How ironic it is that on Monday, the Gauteng MEC for education opened the first autism specific school in Soweto and announced plans to open 12 additional special needs schools this year in that province. This is not a question of whether the province or metro is led by the ANC or DA, it’s rather about putting political differences aside and putting the needs of the children first. Compare Gauteng’s encouraging moves to the lack of support for the average pupil in this city, let alone the many learning disabled children. The NAEF accurately describes our education department as “the weakest in the country” and although closing schools may not be the answer, we understand their actions. The parents are justifiably angry. Empty promises don’t educate children.