Teaching vacancies at special schools cannot be filled by means of the redeployment of teachers from mainstream schools, as they need teachers with special skills such as knowledge of sign language, members of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) told the management of St Thomas School for the Deaf and officials of the Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Education.

The NCOP delegates are in the Buffalo City Metropolitan and Alfred Nzo District municipalities, as part of a report-back visit to the area to follow up on recommendations made during the 2016 Taking Parliament to the People programme in the area.

After members of the NCOP delegation heard that unqualified teachers are filling posts at St Thomas, the leader of the delegation, Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP Mr Raseriti Tau, told the school administrator and senior provincial government officials to stop this practice with immediate effect. “This report about this way of filling teaching vacancies indicates that the future of children with disabilities is taken for granted here and that must stop immediately,” emphasised Mr Tau.

NCOP members had visited St Thomas School for the Deaf and Fundiswa Special School during the 2016 programme and had made recommendations to improve conditions for the special needs learners at these schools. At St Thomas, recommendations included filling teacher vacancies with properly qualified teachers; buying the school and land from the church that owns it; and reopening the skills training workshops.

During this report-back visit, the NCOP delegation heard that the provincial education department has bought the land and school buildings, and the church also donated the equipment in the workshops for skills training. A school administrator has been appointed by provincial government, as there is no school governing body at the moment, as the administrator has begun putting systems in place. The safety of deaf learners was another challenge raised during the 2016 visit and this is now guaranteed by the appointment of security guards who provide security services 24/7 at the school.

Reports of corruption and teachers taking too much leave, which were also raised during 2016, are under investigation. Members of the NCOP appreciated progress and urged the new administrator and the officials of the Eastern Cape Department of Education to prioritise the future of learners.

Recommendations for Fundiswa Special School included building more classrooms; buying a large bus for learner transportation; and prioritising learning and development programmes for autistic learners.

This time around, progress was reported on these recommendations, but members of the NCOP were unhappy with the quality of the report presented by the school principal. Furthermore, the chairperson of the school governing body distanced the governing body from the report, claiming that the governing body had been excluded from its compilation. Also, the report had not been seen by the provincial department of education, something which the Members of the NCOP said was unacceptable.

Members of the NCOP instructed the school principal and officials of the department to compile another report, acceptable to all, that will reflect progress achieved and challenges that still persist at the school.

Mava Lukani
15 March 2018