Questions/Answers

The Department’s 2016/17 plan reaffirms the Department’s commitment in supporting the Provincial Ten Pillar Programme of Transformation, Modernisation and Re-industrialisation and the National Development Plan – Vision for 2030 , of which Pillar No 7 Social Cohesion puts emphasise on learners with Special Education Needs well-being and the project’s intervention in capacitating a total of 400 township educators who received training to support learners with autism. This plan illustrates our priorities in supporting the modernisation of education, establishing schools of specialisation to educate cohorts of Gauteng’s top talent, promote skills development in the Gauteng City Region, cater for inclusion and special needs learners, and promote social cohesion. Through Autism Spectrum Disorder Intervention, learners with autism who previously did not have access to any form of education were provided with schooling opportunities. The project enabled the community to develop and understand autism and ensured the needed support is provided to improve the lives of families. Two ordinary public schools were converted into special school for learners with autism spectrum disorder. The Directorate: Inclusion and Special Schools ensured that access to appropriate schooling and support was increased in Gauteng for learners with dissabilities, with particular emphasis on expanding support provisioning for learners with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). This process included expanding the number of Special Schools. The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) launched the first Autism-specific school in a township with the opening of Thulasizwe School for Autism in Soweto. This brings the total number of Autism-specific schools in the province to 5 with 13 Autism-specific units that opened at current special school. The Directorate through its project on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) manages the successful implementation of the Policy on Screening Identification Assessment and Support (SIAS). Capacitated support structures such as School Based Support Teams (SBSTs) and District Based Support Teams (DBSTs) ensures that all learners receive needed support in line with their support needs.

The overall objectives of this initiative is to increase access to appropriate schooling and support for all learners with disabilities in the Gauteng province with particular emphasis on expanding support provisioning for learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD() that have been marginalised historically. This objective is accomplished through the acceleration of the Screening, Identification, Assessment and Support (SIAS) Policy in the province, that ensure that all structures are capacitated to ensure that learners receive needed support in line with their disabilities.

The initiative fits in the selected category as it focuses on achieving the objectives of UN Strategic Goal 4: Quality Education and Strategic Goal 5: Gender and Equality. The initiative also fit with SDG 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by providing schools and education to the needy.

The Initiative improves the lives of people with dissabilities as oulined in UN SDG 2013, Strategic Goal 4: Quality Education and SG 5: Gender and Equality as efforts are made to improve educational programmes for learners with disabilities. In the past number of years a concerted effort was made to expand access to special schools for eligible learners in line with the Screening, Identification, Assessment and Support (SIAS) Policy and compliant to the required admission processes. This is demonstrated in the following: • The learner numbers increasing from 40 891 in 2016 to 42 166 in 2017: • There is currently 120 operational Special Schools. A further 3 schools are in the process of conversion from public ordinary to public special schools bringing the total to 123 in 2018. • The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) launched the first Autism-specific school in a township with the opening of Thulasizwe School for Autism in Soweto. This brings the total number of Autism-specific schools in the province to 5 with 13 Autism-specific units that opened at current special school. • The GCE:TO (General Certificate in Education: Technical Occupational curriculum) is currently being piloted in 16 Special Schools and processes have been put in place to pilot the curriculum in certain Public Ordinary Secondary Schools in Johannesburg South and Gauteng North in pressure areas. This will improve access to vocational programmes in areas were there is limited support programmes of the nature available presently.

The Directorate: Inclusion and Special Schools strive towards the implementation of the Batho Pele principles in all interactions with customers. (Batho Pele means putting other people first before considering your own needs/yourself). This is done by ensuring that all learners with disabilities and their families are treated with courtesy and provided with the needed support to increase access to appropriate schooling and support. Customer services are improved by ensuring that redress occurs within the sector. Making concerted efforts to improve access for learners with disabilities such as Autism where historically there only used to be 3 schools schools for autism in the province. The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) launched the first Autism-specific school in a township with the opening of Thulasizwe School for Autism in Soweto. This brings the total number of Autism-specific schools in the province to 5 with 13 Autism-specific units that opened at current special school. The department also put measures in place to improve access for learners with disabilities in Township areas as 10 of the new Special Schools that opened are in Township areas. All customer queries are investigated to determine support required and needed steps are taken to ensure timeuous feedback is provided.

Through ensuring that learners with diisabilities that previously did not have access to any form of education, the project ensured that quality education is provided to learners that historically could not attend any form of school either due to their disability or because of limited available spaces to provide the needed support. Through increasing the Quality of Education for approximately 40 000 learners in Gauteng the needed foundations have been laid to ensure that these learners are equiped with life skills that they will be able to use for the rest of their lives to give a form of independence to learners that would never have been able to be independent. The introduction of the General Certificate in Education: Technical Occupational Curriculum provides the opportunity for learners in vocational trades (a road to work opportunity previously not possible for disabled learners).

The Directorate displayed innovation in acccesing support for learners with disabilities in areas where support was never looked for. The Department displayed innovation by converting public ordinary schools with dwindling numbers in areas where learners with disabilities did not have access to schooling to Special Schools. This resulted in access for learners with disabilities that previously could not access schools. The initiative is innovative in the teacher development opportunities provided to all schools on an annual basis to improve the implementation of Inclusive Education.

The innovation is an adaptation based on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Art.9) which requires State parties to enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life.

No additional human resources have been sourced, the innovation focuses on capacitating all the human resources in the Gauteng Education system to increase support provisioning for learners with disabilities. • Printing of Screening Identification Assessment and Support (SIAS) manuals for 2500 schools • Printing of Full Service Schools guidelines for 2500 schools • Infrastructural accessibility ensured in 25 Full Service Schools • Infrastructural accessibility in 11 new Special Schools

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Based on the number of referrals, this model of establishing an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) school has been extended to other districts and thus ensuring that more learners particularly from disadvantaged areas have access to quality education and needed support. Leadership has been provided from the Provincial Office in Gauteng to ensure that all the 15 Educational districts are capacitated to implement and expand the programme in the various regions. Progress report provided to National Coordinating Committee on Inclusive Education on a quartely basis. Deputy Director responsible for Inclusive Education in the Province presented the initiative during a JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) training programme in November 2017 which was attended by 15 other countries

The initiative is sustainable as it focuses on the long term capacity building of the entire education system to increase support provisioning for learners with disabilities. Efforts are put in place to ensure that all educators are able to successfully implement Screening, Identification, Assessment and Support as a long term support plan for each learner. This is accomplished through putting needed measures in place to ensure that all educators are capacitated to screen and identify learners, and thereafter develop a long term individual learner support plan to ensure that from identification of the barrier untill the learner finishes school rceive the needed support to be a succesful and participating member of society.

The initiative is sustainable over time as measures are put in place to ensure continuous training of educators and support structures and that there will always be a knowledge cohort in the system to provide the needed support. Through infrastructural changes made in areas of need it will ensure that access is in place for learners with disabilities for years to come. Appropriate oversight monitoring and support to School Based Support Teams (SBST’s) and District Based Support Teams (DBST’s) ensures continued support and makes the programme sustainable. The support provisioning for learners with disabilities can evolve with the technological advances, whereas ICT platforms increases the capturing and the availability of learner data that will not get lost. This minimises delays in support provisioning and life long continued support.

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Various aspects of the initiative have been audited by various stakeholders. The converting of public ordinary schools to Full Service Schools have been audited by the Auditor General of South Africa .• Process of appropriate schooling and accessing to support via minimizing learners with disabilities on waiting lists have been audited by Gauteng Auditing Services. Both qualitative and quantitative data analysis were used. Once the raw data was collected it was carefully compiled and collated. Thereafter, the data was analysed. The analysis was simple and findings and recommendations regarding all schools was made without bias. The needs of various schools vary however the findings and recommendations for the schools have been clustered under common areas. The conclusions consider whether the achieved and the desired outcomes are in harmony with what was envisioned in the legal framework underpinning the sector.

In Gauteng there are schools that cater for the various disabilities experienced by learners. It is acknowledged that there are a number of schools where they were established with the intention to provide support programmes to learners with a range of disabilities. Out of the one hundred and two schools evaluated, half of them cater for mentally handicapped learners in the province. Thirty four schools have learners who are severely handicapped and eighteen who are deemed to be mildly or moderately handicapped. Seven schools cater for the hearing impaired and three schools cater for the visually impaired. Eight schools have a specific focus on behavioural disorders and six have a specific focus on learners with cerebral palsy. The evaluation identified a total of 2 296 classrooms, 1 012 specialist classrooms, 145 health rooms and 70 recreation rooms in the 102 schools visited. Furniture provided to the schools to cater for learner numbers. It was indicated that 9 727 learners utilise school provided transport. A further 16 868 Learners utilises private transport and 11 577 learners utilise public transport. The 33 schools that have hostel facilities have been found to function very efficiently under the trying financial constraints. All schools have ablution facilities, 91 schools have a flush system to the sewer; and hand washing facilities are all in a good condition. Thirty eight schools have remodelled to accommodate wheelchair access in the ablution facilities and 23 schools have facilities to cater for incontinence. The evaluation has identified that educators have relevant qualifications to teach in this sector and where there is a gap, schools are quick to implement in-service training so that learners are not adversely disadvantaged.

There are quite a number of indicators used; • there are 34 schools with learners who are severely handicapped • there are 18 learners that are deemed mildly or moderately handicapped. • there are 7 schools which caters for the hearing impaired and 3 schools which caters for the visually impaired . • there are 8 schools which specifically focus on behavioral disorders and 6 which are specifically for learners with cerebral palsy • there are 33 schools which have hostel facilities • a total of 9727 learners utilise school provided transport on daily basis

The Department of Education strives in achieving the objectives of UN Strategic Goal 4: Quality Education and Strategic Goal 5: Gender and Equality to ensure that this is a process that does not coocur in isolation but make concerted efforts to ensure that various other stakeholders are included. The Project team has monthly meetings with Department of Health (DoH) and the Department of Social Development (DSD) to ensure close collaboration between the sister departments to increase support provisioning for learners with disabilities. The Project team also work closely with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s) such as Blind South Africa, South African Council for the Blind, Autism South Africa, DEAFSA to name but a few to increase support provisioning. The Inclusion and Special Schools (ISS) Project Team collaborated with various directorates at the provincial and district level. Guidance and support was provided from the provincial office to the district transversal team consisting of human resources, infrastructure, curriculum, circuit and cluster leaders, education and support staff. Systems were put in place by the provincial team to ensure consultation between community, district and parents prior to the opening of the school. The team worked tirelessly to ensure that the community was involved, their concerns were respectfully addressed and they fully understood and were part of the process from start to end. The Special Schools as Resource Centre was consulted and through collaborative efforts they willingly provided assistance with the establishment of the new school.

The most important aspect in increasing access to appropriate schooling and support for learners with disabilities and fostering an inclusive education system is creating a paradigm shift. Many schools still fear supporting learners with disabilties feeling that it is something that the majority of the schools cannot accomplish. Therefore it is essential to provide continued support to the education system firstly to empower all to realise that all learners can learn and from there on provided with continued support to empower the system to provide the needed support.