Children with disabilities to attend mainstream schools by 2021
Government is aiming to ensure that children with disabilities are accommodated in their local schools by 2021. This is part of government’s plan to ensure the integration of children with disabilities in society.
This was announced by President Jacob Zuma during his opening address to the Disability Rights Summit and launch of Presidential Working Group on Disability in Irene, Pretoria.
“Our goal as government is to ensure that by 2021, no children with disabilities will be out of school. They should all be able to attend their local neighbouring schools and receive the necessary support,” President Zuma said.
The Summit is hosted by the Department of Social Development to analyse and convert the White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into realisable outcomes through practical implementation.
The call for the integration of children with disabilities into mainstream schools was first made by the Minister for Social Development, Ms Bathabile Dlamini, in 2014 during a visit to the Adelaide Tambo School in Soweto. She called on schools and institutions of higher learning to commit to an enrolment quota for learners with disabilities in order to promote integration.
Minister Dlamini’s call stemmed from a concern raised directly with her by parents and caregivers of children with disabilities that institutions of learning were unable to cater for their children.
President Zuma told the Summit that more than six thousand eight hundred and fifty (6,850) students with disabilities have been enrolled at higher education institutions, and that over two thousand eight hundred (2,800) have been enrolled at TVET Colleges in 2014. The President also said more needs to be done to ensure that Deaf South Africans are able to access information and communication.
Government has taken steps in this regard with the introduction of the South African Sign Language curriculum at school level from January 2015. Deaf South Africans continue to experience high levels of marginalisation and exclusion due to a general lack of understanding of Deaf culture, lack of South African Sign Language proficiency, and the availability of and expense associated with professional sign language interpreter services. This limits the social participation and integration of Deaf persons.
The Disability Sector has previously put forward that one way of addressing this marginalisation is having South African Sign Language recognised as an official language in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, and that the country needs to seriously discuss this matter if we’re going to walk the talk in advancing disability rights.
The Department of Social Development has committed to working with Parliament, national, provincial and local government institutions, as well as Chapter 9 institutions and organisations representing Deaf and hard-of-hearing persons, for the full implementation of Articles 9 and 21 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as it pertains giving equal access to communication and information to Deaf and hard-of-hearing persons through the recognition of sign language and availability of appropriate technology.
The National Disability Rights Summit is held under the theme “Unified in Disability, Together Advancing People’s Power.” It concludes on March 12.
Media inquiries:
Lumka Oliphant
Cell: 083 484 8067
Email: lumkao@dsd.gov.za
