Parents Of Special Needs Children In Gauteng Threaten Legal Action

Some parents of children with special needs in Gauteng are threatening legal action against the Education Department if their children are not placed in schools.

The parents claim they have been on waiting lists for years, despite Gauteng having the highest concentration of learners with special needs in the country-over 60 000, followed by KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.

Nationally, the number of special needs schools increased from 295 000 to 499,000 between 2002 and 2023, with enrolment rising from 64 000 to over 140 000.

A 39-year-old mother expressed her frustration over her seven-year-old son with autism being unable to attend school: "Ive been struggling from January right until December to place him, to actually get him into the school, to place him into the school but they refused. They actually wanted me to bring another document, they wanted me to go through an educational psychologist, when I gave them all the psychologists, neurologists, everything and the previous report from a special needs school, when to be placed. It upsets me and frustrates me, I mean my son is seven-years-old and he needs to go to school and he hasnt been at school.

She adds: I'd like to tell the department, on behalf of all parents, that it's unfair to neglect special needs kids. They are also human."