Education News - Education World News
Wednesday, 07 January 2009 00:56
South Africa dedicates R9.5bn to special needs education
Due to bids from the Department of Education, the Treasury has announced that it will grant R9.5bn to the development and improvement of education for special needs children, over the next three years.
SA Gov prioritises special needs learners
The funding was announced at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's International Conference of Education last month. These resources were made available to ensure that special needs children received an education to match that of their peers. This will be done by providing support to both pupils with disabilities and those experiencing barriers to learning.
The department has stated that there are approximately 88,000 disabled pupils in roughly 400 special schools across the country. It is also estimated that a further 288,000 disabled children are not attending school.
The Deputy Director General for General Education and Training at the Department of Education, Palesa Tyobeka, explained that the money will be implemented according to a guidelines document formulated by the department. "We did an audit in 2002 that signalled the issues we need to address in order to ensure better special schools around South Africa."
According to these guidelines there will be a primary focus on support for special schools. This aid will be directed towards better hostels, equipment, transport, assistant devices and teacher development.
The funds will also be used for the development of full-service schools, built to accommodate both children with and without learning disabilities. These developments will take the form of physical infrastructure for partially blind and wheelchair bound students, as well as training for teachers to effectively address the needs of specific learners.
The finances will also help to establish district-based support teams, aimed at providing multi-disciplinarily support to schools that are catering to any children with learning disabilities. These teams will provide specialist skills for schools that are neither special nor full-service, but may need support for some of their learners.
Tyobeka explains that 30 city districts have been identified for a pilot programme that will test the efficiency of the district teams, and the department will receive feedback on these early next year.
Caroline Taylor, a researcher at Inclusive Education Western Cape, believes the funds have potential to aid disabled learners, "If they (the department) support schools that are themselves engaging with the needs of their children, then the funds could be hugely beneficial. Some schools around the country are ready and wanting, looking at how they can support learners."
Inclusive education within South Africa
The Department of Education describes inclusive education as a process of addressing the diverse needs of all learners by reducing barriers to, and within the learning environment.
The principle behind the education initiative is to try and not separate children due to learning disabilities, but rather enable schools to cater to a wider range of students, taking the pressure off specialist schools, and allowing learning disabled children to attend a wider variety of schools.
"Inclusive education has been embraced wholeheartedly by the Department of Education, but it is a very ambitious programme," said Tyobeka. "The policy is one of inclusion, in order to reduce the barriers to learning. This policy is comprehensive, and underpins everything we do."
Taylor argues that inclusive education is undergoing challenges, and it needs a wider scope in order to properly address the problems facing education within South Africa. "There is a tendency to always refer children with disabilities somewhere else, like special schools, rather than keeping learners together," says Taylor. "Funding is essential, and support for teachers is needed, but this grant is a step in the right direction."
For more information on the Department of Education's inclusive education programme, please visit www.thuthong.org.za
Inclusive Education Western Cape is an NPO & Resources Centre in the Western Cape. For more information on Inclusive Education Western Cape, please visit www.included.org.za
Articles republished with permission South Africa: The Good News www.sagoodnews.co.za
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