It is a great pleasure for me to get this opportunity to visit Athlone School for the Blind as all matriculants begin their final examinations for the year 2010.
I am here to wish the learners of this and other special schools and those learners with special needs enrolled in mainstream schools all the best of luck in their 2010 matric examination. While some schools started with their final examination yesterday, learners here are writing their first paper tomorrow.
I am sure you have put a lot of effort into your work during the year. We know that the school year has seen a few challenges including the public sector strike and a longer mid-year holiday period due to the World Cup. However, I hope that you have used the catch-up programmes and other support services that were put in place to help you as learners to prepare for exams. I have no doubt that you will give this your best.
I hear that this school got 100% pass rate for the 12 learners enrolled for matric last year and you remain one of the best schools in the whole of this district. I am glad that you have increased the number of learners registered for matric to 32 this year and I hope you will be able to keep your great pass rate and continue to be example for other special schools in the country. I will be proceeding from here to wish learners of Jan Kriel School good luck also.
Nationally, a total of 872 learners enrolled in special school wrote matric examination last year and 697 of them passed – that represent close to 80% pass rate. While the pass rate was good, we acknowledge that the number of learners from special schools that are registered for matric remains low. We need to ensure that we put support systems in place to enable learners with special needs to graduate from lower grades up to matric and beyond. Education is the only tool that can pull our children out of various challenges they are facing and open new opportunities for their future.
It is because of this understanding that we are emphasising that all new schools that are being built by Government should be accessible to children with disabilities as required by the new National School Infrastructure Norms. This will be in line with South Africa’s commitment to achieve the full enjoyment of all human rights including the right to education by children with disabilities on an equal basis with other children.
This Inclusive Education Policy is being implemented on an incremental basis. The main aim of the programme is to introduce a number of systemic measures which would lay the foundation for a system wideimplementation of the policy of Inclusive Education.
In piloting the policy, 30 mainstream schools were selected for conversion into full-service schools to serve as models of full-inclusivity. Another 34 special schools were selected for upgrading and conversion into resource centres to support the mainstream schools. District-based Support Teams were established and trained to provide support services in an integrated way, thus maximising existing services through coordination and inter-sectoral collaboration.
These key systemic measures to build a single, inclusive system are accompanied by a public advocacy campaign aimed at laying the foundation for a system wide implementation of the policy of Inclusive Education in South Africa.
To all of you as the 2010 matric class of Athlone School for the Blind, I wish you all the best as you write your first paper tomorrow. To the teachers and the staff of this school, thank you for the support you have provided to these learners during their school years. Continue to support them as they take this last mile in their long school career.
It is also important for all of us as parents and family members to support learners during this time. Let us assist them as they prepare for each of the exam papers and not put pressure on them.
Once again, all the best for the exams and I know very well you will come out the bests.
Thank you.
Enquiries:
Sibani Mngadi
Cell: 082 772 0161
