Government doesn't care about our disabled children - parents

Some parents of special needs learners are disappointed that government sold them a dummy when accepting their children into public schools’ special needs classes.

They had hoped that their children would be provided with specialised education, but their children are now neglected by the education system owing to lack of resources.

Among challenges is the grouping of different types of disabilities with varied degrees of intensity in one class, different age groups in one class, as well as a heightened fear of sexual exploitation.

According to a parent whose child has an intellectual disability, special unit classes in public schools is a death sentence for children with disabilities as they do not cultivate any talent or skills but instead incapacitate learners.

The parent who prefers to be anonymous told The Midweek Sun that she was shocked to discover that her child was in the same class with much older children.

“What I found to my horror was a class filled with children ranging from the ages of seven to grown ups in their mid-20s with beards,” the parent explained, noting that this did not sit well with her.

Moreover, the parent, whose child was admitted at Joseph Anderson Primary School in Selebi Phikwe observed that educators are often overwhelmed by the different types and degrees of disabilities in one class.

She indicated that educators do not follow the Central Resource Centre’s (CRC) recommendations, stipulated for learners as they do not have the resources to do what the report requires them to do.

The parent revealed that according to the report of their child’s condition from the CRC, activities for strengthening development in gross motor skills should be incorporated in their training, however, nothing was done.

Instead, educators claim that the CRC is aware of the situation in schools but insist on unrealistic expectations.

“There is no grading system, so the school waits for parents to get tired and remove their child,” the parent said, adding that there is no academic certificate in special unit classes.

In addition, there are no indicators of what a child has done in a school such as a report card at the end of a term or certificate at the end of their stay in primary school.

The parent added that a lot of special needs students end up as couch potatoes because there is no real value that comes out of the classes, indicating that their children are not even empowered with basic life skills.

Even more worrying, she said, is that younger learners are at risk of being sexually harassed in classes by the older students who have reached puberty.

Another concerned parent, Onneile Maseko said most parents hide their children with disabilities in an effort to prevent them from being sexually abused.

She also worries that the current education system does not harness learners’ life skills which makes them susceptible to abuse.

“I don’t think government is doing enough for disabled children,” she said, urging government to build entire special needs schools, which would be dedicated to up-skilling children with disabilities instead of just building classes in mainstream schools which do not fully address the problem.

She pleaded with government to employ more modern policies that can actually address challenges that parents of children with disabilities face.

She added that the disability unit in the Office of the President has not done much to help.

According to the Ministry of Education, there are currently 47 special education units for learners with intellectual disabilities in primary schools across the country.

Only two primary schools have Resource Classes for learners with Vision Impairments, while there are two additional primary schools with Special Education units for learners with hearing impairments that are government-aided and owned by the Botswana Society for the Deaf.

Ministry spokesperson, Maikano Osenkeng noted that their primary role is to drive inclusive education which means that learners with special educational needs are educated in regular schools within the child’s locality.

Osenkeng noted that teachers that are deployed to teach in the Special Education Units are specialists who have been trained in special education and majored accordingly in respective disability areas. This training prepares teachers to handle learners with diverse disabilities.

Osenkeng added that special arrangements of accommodation, modification and alternative arrangements of assessment are done throughout the processes of assessment in schools and to the level of the Botswana Examination Council, and hence provision of certificate of completion is offered at the end of their stay in school.

Osenkeng noted that the ministry is proactively extending and expanding the continuum of educational placement for learners with diverse needs to ensure that there is improved access and participation in quality education by all.

The ministry is also in the process of establishing a centre that will cater for children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities in Maun.

Spokesperson of the Botswana Council for the Disabled, Agisanyang Pitsane noted that Educators in Special Education have been advocating for comprehensive implementation of the Recommendations of the 1994 Revised National Education Policy, Inclusive Education policy of 2011, ETTSP and other research recommendation in this subject area.

However, the Ministry of Education has been slow or not aggressive enough in overhauling the education system to make it more efficient.

Pitsane conceded that parents are within their right to get worried and advocate for systematic change.

'We as a council directly, and through member organisations advocate for better funding of special education sector and to also review national laws and policies to allow for more people with disabilities to be absorbed in the open job market, with necessary adaptations made.'