Access to Education for children with Special needs; Birth Certificates and ID documents for children, Refugee Children programmes and accessibility of offices: Departments of Education and Home Affairs briefings

Joint Monitoring Committee on Children, Youth and Persons with Disabilities

01 August 2008
Chairperson: Ms W Newhoudt-Druchen (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The Department of Education briefed the Committee on the quality of and accessibility to compulsory education of children with special needs, including children with disabilities, street children and children awaiting trial. Several hurdles were faced by such learners, including the fact that not all were placed in schools that appropriately catered to their disabilities, lack of knowledge on the part of their parents, lack of resources at the schools or fees that were very high, limited access and schools being placed far from rural centres, and lack of understanding of the Department’s policies, sometimes resulting in learners being turned away. The Department aimed to mainstream learners as far as possible, but had found that even in special needs schools, some teachers were inadequately trained and unable to use sign language or read Braille, for example. The development of the 30-30-30 programme was described. Ten newly developed mainstream schools would open in 2009. The special needs of children awaiting trial were described. The educational plans were under review and joint programmes were being run with other departments and institutions. Youth in general were being targeted through broadening of access to Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges, and the fee structure, bursary schemes and programmes were discussed. Members raised questions on a specific incident involving a learner who became disabled during her matric year and was unable to finish her schooling, measures in place to ensure access for youth with special education needs to FET colleges, the measures to monitor and follow up on the expenditure of the money and assess the value received, whether teachers were equipped to deal with dyslexia, whether students were tested, and the outcome of the School Nutrition Programme. Further questions addressed the fact that only ten of the 37 deaf schools offered education above grade 9, the lack of knowledge about funding, the lack of programmes for young offenders at Pollsmoor Correctional Centre, the access to education by street children, and the disparity still existing between schools. The Department admitted that lack of communication was a serious issue, and would have to be addressed in a number of ways. In addition it was working with other departments.

The Department of Home Affairs then briefed the Committee on its current efforts and turnaround programme that would address problems of corruption in the issuing of birth and death certificates. The new ID smart card was described, and the interventions would include issuing certificates on the same day as requested, the setting up of call centres to combat queues, the placing of officials at Thusong Centres and mobile units and presence at hospitals. The “ID Yourself” campaign had been conducted and students of over 16 were being encouraged to get their ID books. Public information documents had been issued and made available in Braille. The offices were being improved to accommodate those with physical disabilities. The Department then described its initiatives and directives for refugee children, and explained the rights of refugees. Members asked what the Department was doing about orphans being cared for by grandparents, sought clarity on the transition from asylum seeking to citizenship, whether work permits were issued, and what was done to prevent trafficking of children. Further questions related to alternative forms of identification other than fingerprinting, the relationship with other departments, and the numbers of missing children. The Department was commended on its substantial efforts.

Meeting report

Quality of and access to education for children with special needs: Department of Education (DOE) briefing
Ms Palesa Tyobeka, Deputy Director General, Department of Education introduced a briefing on the quality of and accessibility to compulsory education for children of the school going age with special needs, who included children with disabilities, street children and children awaiting trial.

She noted that many learners with disability faced great hurdles in accessing education. In the past, children with disability were put under one group and the variability of their disabilities was not taken into account in order to measure the amount of support needed. There were very few special schools and those were mostly in urban areas. The schools tended to differ widely, from schools for whites that had an abundance of resources to schools for black children with no resources and with teachers who often did not understand nor had the training to look after the children.

Access to special schools in deep rural areas was extremely limited and children often had to be taken away from their families to get an education. Special schools had very long waiting lists, irrespective of the quality of education, as parents genuinely wanted an education for their children, or because they did not know how to deal with them and therefore opted to send them away. There were also barriers to learning that were not understood. For instance, society understood people that had physical disabilities such as deafness, blindness or obvious physical disabilities, but did not understand autism, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or the like. The DOE had been looking into that and was currently developing a policy that would deal with the access of education to a wider variety of students and provide suitable support for those students.

Ms Tyobeka noted that in some of its efforts the Department had been misunderstood, for instance it had never sought to close down schools. The policy framework of the department only sought to provide access to special schools for those with severe special needs. In respect of other children with lesser disabilities, who could be accommodated by the ordinary schools and needed minimal additional resources to attend mainstream schools, the Department preferred to try to mainstream wherever possible.

As a result of audits by the Department, it came to the fore that many public special schools had poor infrastructure, were overcrowded, had teachers and care-givers who were under-prepared or unprepared at all to deal with the conditions of the learners, and that some had a shortage or unavailability of essential assistive devices. Since then R50 million had been spent on the worst schools at the provinces that needed the most attention. In addition, the Department had found that some teachers did not know how to sign in deaf schools, or read or teach braille in blind schools. However, 1 600 teachers had been trained thus far and the training continued.

Ms Tyobeka noted that full service schools were being developed through the 30-30-30 programme, where 30 districts were identified to test out the policy, and 30 special schools and 30 mainstream schools were upgraded to full service schools. With full-service schools, the focus of the Department had been on building proper physical infrastructure (for instance ramps and toilets suitable for all) and human resource development. In addition, it had developed a screening support document, where the children could be screened to identify and assess what their exact needs were and thus have appropriate placement and support. The programme on service had mainly focused on developing 10 mainstream schools and those would open in 2009. Twenty more would be upgraded in 2009 to be opened in 2010. In addition, she touched again upon the policy that sought to ensure that children previously excluded were brought into the most appropriate part of the system. There would be campaigns to educate parents about the choices available for disabled children, running from September.

Ms Tyobeka then reported on the special needs of children awaiting trial. The Department was part of an inter sectoral group that worked with children that were in conflict with the law. DoE was working on implementing a plan agreed upon with Department of Social Development (DSD) for the hand-over of reform schools to the latter department. The education programme for awaiting trial and sentenced children had been under review and it would also be part of the hand-over plan. In respect of youth offenders, a joint programme was being run with the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), Umsombomvu Youth Fund (UYF) and the Educational  Sector Education and Training Authority (The Seta ETDDP). Youth offenders were also trained to be Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) facilitators, and could become qualified as ABET practitioners through the ETDDP Seta learnership and could also then train younger offenders. In respect of youth in general, the DOE had sought to broaden access to Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges and improve their current status, so that the students could leave them fully equipped and ready for employment. Government had invested R1.9 billion to recapitalise FET colleges, improve their equipment and train teachers. The funding formula for the programme ensured that government covered 80% of the total cost and the students only paid 20% of the total costs. For those who could not even afford 20% the Department had launched a bursary programme. She reported that in regard to access to higher education institutions, the Department had, in 1999, set up the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to open up access. To date the government had provided funding to the tune of R2 billion, by way of loans that were repayable, so that the scheme would continue. A further initiative was the Funza Lushaka (educate the nation) Bursary Scheme, a full bursary scheme that sought to increase the pool of quality teachers. It made efforts to attract top achievers who were committed to a career in teaching.

Discussion
Mr A Madella (ANC) thanked the Department for the insightful presentation into its work. He raised a question regarding a learner in Khayelitsha, who had become paralysed in an accident and was unable to finish matric at her school as it could not accommodate her. The Department had referred to inclusive education but in reality, there were no structural changes made to accommodate any disabled students that went to mainstream schools, and he acknowledged that this was a challenge. 

Mr Madella asked about the measures in place to ensure access for youth with special education needs to FET colleges. He also asked how the 30 schools that were being upgraded to full-service were distributed among the provinces, and their location, so that members could inform their constituencies. Regarding the Khare Gude programme, he noted that around 10% of the population was disabled, and 80% of those were illiterate, and that those statistics were directly related to poverty. He asked to what extent were the campaigns targeting disabled people who were unable to leave their households and go to town centres to get an education.

Ms Tyobeka responded by first acknowledging that communication had been one of the pivotal shortcomings of the DOE and other government departments. That was why people often had the opinion that the Department had not done much. A case in point was that of the Eastern Cape closing down school allegedly in response to a policy, although that was not what the policy sought to do. She stressed that the DOE policy sought to ensure proper placement of students, as parents were tending to bring children to schools that were not appropriate to them and then claim that the system was failing. She noted that there were many incidents that were similar with the one cited in Khayelitsha, but it was often easier to deal with a specific case. She referred to a case she had dealt with personally. She encouraged Members of the Committee, if they knew of such cases, to address the Department directly. She said some schools understood the policy and did not wait to be identified but proceeded immediately and upgraded their schools; for instance Parow Prep School and a school in Mamelodi made changes as they could and were now full-service schools. She admitted that the costs for education at FET Colleges were extremely high, as there was a need  to factor in the teaching salaries and equipment.

Ms J Chalmers (ANC) expressed that there were no actual results as to what was being achieved with the money being spent. She asked what measures the Department had introduced to monitor and follow up on the expenditure of the money. She also asked what the current leaner to teacher ratio was in special schools. In addition, she asked if the teachers in rural areas were equipped to deal with dyslexia, and if there were there testing initiatives for students to identify what their needs were. Finally she mentioned how badly the School Nutrition Programme had failed in some provinces, and asked how the National Department would intervene in such cases.

Ms Tyobeka believed that there was a need to measure the impact of policies to assess if they were working or not, and there had been initiatives where the Department would go to schools that had implemented the policies and study their impacts, and that would be reflected in future reports. The Department had proposed that it should be made compulsory for disabled children to start school as early as possible and develop learner profiles that would reveal if the learners were actually benefiting from the programmes. She said that the Department was looking into the school feeding schemes and considering if it should appoint an Agency that would manage them and be accountable to the Department. The Department was also looking into feeding children at all schools, but prioritising the poor, but at present money and management were a challenge.

The Chairperson asked where the ten upgraded schools were and where the 1 600 trained teachers were allocated. She expressed concern about FET colleges as it appeared that no provision was made for disabled students to access them. For instance, there were 37 deaf schools in South Africa but only ten of them went beyond grade 9. Those youth who ended at deaf schools at grade 9 were then in a difficult position because there was no provision made for sign language interpreters at FET Colleges. In regard to funding, she indicated that people did not know about the bursary schemes. The Committee visited Pollsmoor prison, and had noted that many of the youth that were awaiting trial did not know when their court dates were and there were no active learning programmes for them. She asked about the relationship with the Department of Correctional Services.

Ms Tyobeka said the FET Colleges and higher education institutions would be the next area of focus of the Department. However, the Department could deal with individual cases and assist those students that had been identified. She admitted not have realised the major issue of deaf schools stopping at grade 9 and acknowledged that it was an issue that needed to be addressed. In regard to the comment around the situation at Pollsmoor, she noted that the DOE had been working with DCS, but there were limitations, as at national level there seemed to be a general understanding of what was to happen yet reports from the provinces would show that matters were not working as planned. She noted that she would e-mail through to the Committee the details of the special needs schools, and include a report on progress made thus far. The 1 600 teachers trained by the department were in the 30 districts that had special schools. She acknowledged that costs were extremely high.

Mr D Gamede (ANC) noted that the policy was promulgated in 2001. He asked how the policy was implemented, and the reaction from those affected by it. He also asked about the accessibility of education to children living on the streets. He said in KwaZulu Natal there was one special school that went up to grade 9, but that was generally as far as the people with disabilities could go. He asked what the Department planned to do to address this issue. He expressed that he was happy about the R2 billion for higher education institutions, but asked for what period that money was allocated and how it was distributed among the provinces.

Ms Tyobeka responded that there were field tests being conducted so that a report could be drawn on the progress that was made by the policy. On the subject of street children, she said the point was highlighted, as the Department had not focused on it yet. The R2 billion from NSFAS was money intended in general for students at higher education institutions that could not afford their fees, and not specifically for students with disabilities.

The Chairperson spoke on the issue of older teachers who had been in the old dispensation now working in the National department, who had caused some problems because of their teaching styles. It seemed that they were preventing the proper implementation of the South African Schools Act and wanted to decide how disabled people should be taught. Despite the fact that it was claimed that education was advanced in the Western Cape, she could not agree nor take pride in this as it may be true of white schools but she could say, based on experience, that the same was not true of the black and coloured schools. She supported the notion of getting children, especially disabled children, to start school early, and to educate parents about their children’s disabilities. Teachers also needed to be educated about the disabilities as they, not being disabled themselves, would not necessarily understand those disabilities.

Ms P Bengu (ANC) said that most households with disabled children could simply not afford fees. She asked about the progress of no-fee schools in ensuring that children from poor households could benefit from such initiatives.

Mr M Moss (ANC) spoke about special schools closing down, which was a problem. The Department must look into the problem of communication. He said that there was a school in Saldahna Bay that had children with severe. It seemed that these children were not being promoted to the higher grades, and had no resources, yet such children managed to be very good at sports. He asked the Department to comment on that. Referring to the Khayelitsha student, he said that school principals seemingly could simply decide that a student could not continue and this was a problem that needed to be addressed. He asked what progress was made by the Department with regard to dealing with sexual abuse of children at special schools. Finally, he commented that the Department should pay attention to marketing and publicising its initiatives and successes, for example the bursaries for disabled children.

Ms Tyobeka said that communication was a serious issue, and admitted that the Department had not been as firm with communicating with the public as it should. There had been miscommunication within the Department, despite frequent meetings with regard to projects. The Department of Education was looking into ways to enhance communication across and within all departments. With regard to children who had skills other than in the academic field, she stated that the Departmental policy would be able to look at whether those children benefited more from a different type of skills programme – such as concentrating on sports. This had to do with proper placement, and the level of skills would be looked at rather than the school leaving age. The Department had set guidelines on how to intervene in cases of sexual abuse at schools. She said, in relation to cases such as the Khayelitsha matter, that principals and school management teams sometimes took decisions not to accept learners due to ignorance. It was unfortunate for the Department that after 1994 principals tended to be trained on dealing with administrative issues, and did not focus on dealing with the students on a personal level.

Mr N Gcwabaza (ANC) said the presentation presented hope for children and people with disabilities. He asked if the funding catered for the training and employment of the general staff that were required to look into the needs of the disabled learners, and if these funds included in-school residence and transportation. He asked the Department to comment on the mainstream school that was in Ixopo, KwaZulu Natal, which opened a special needs unit. Over the past two years it had work done in support of the school building a favorable environment for learners with the special needs. There had been resistance from some members of the Department in the province, as they wanted to separate the special unit from the mainstream school. However, both the community and teachers had reported that the disabled learners learned better in an inclusive environment, with other learners with no disabilities. Moving the disabled learners to a different structure would tend to further emphasise their differences and lead to the impression that they were removed from the community.

Ms Tyobeka said that transport for each of the special schools was being looked at. She applauded KwaZulu Natal for having schools as care and support establishments. She noted that the resistance had been across the board, as there was a problem with defining inclusion. She cited Parow as an exemplary school, as students were put together, yet when it came to some subjects those with special needs would get extra assistance.

Mr Madella commented on a school that he knew which had an advanced unit that catered for intellectually challenged children and not physically challenged children. He said that it was a well-equipped public school, but the fees were very expensive for those for whom it catered. He emphasised the point of the need to publicise the funds made available by the Department and said that forums for disabled people should be used to advertise them.

Mr Madella noted, in regard to school nutrition schemes, that the President, in his State of the Nation Address, said that children over the age of 14 years would also receive some form of nourishment. He said that he met with a group of disabled students from the University of the Western Cape and asked to what extent were universities transformed to accommodate disabled students. He noted that the universities should be guided and have an anchoring national policy instead of developing their own policies.

Ms Tyobeka was glad that students knew that they could go and get the bursaries by themselves, and not wait for them to be handed out. She noted that in respect of the nutrition schemes, the options were to provide better quality food to fewer people with the available funds, or to stretch the money as far as possible and provide food with less nutrition. This all revolved around the availability of funds.

The Chairperson asked about the no-fees schools, asking if that applied to special schools as well. She mentioned that there was still discrimination and in one instance an albino child claimed to have been forcibly removed from the school because she was an albino. She asked what the Department was doing about violence at schools, as it was a prevalent and serious issue. She asked if there was a policy that stated a school leaving age for children with disabilities.

Ms Tyobeka said that the Department had no policy on school leaving age, nor was there one on the entry age. However, the policy and guidelines that the Department was working on sought to make it compulsory for disabled children to start going to school as early as possible. No-fee schools generally applied to all children and all schools. Violence at schools was happening at a minority of schools, and it was treated as serious when it did happen. The Department had been working with the South African Police Service (SAPS) who had already identified violence prone areas.

Birth Certificates and ID Documents for children and youth, Programmes for refugee children, Accessibility of offices: Department of Home Affairs (DHA) Briefings
A delegation of senior officials from the Department of Home Affairs made two presentations on Birth certificate and ID documents for children and youth, and Programmes for refugee children and accessibility of offices and information.

Mr Vusi Mkhize, Acting Deputy Director General: Civic Services, DHA said that the vision of the Department of Home Affairs was to create a modern, efficient and responsive department. It also acknowledged that it had finally identified issues after a year of difficulty, as a result of which the Department had been restructured, had a turnaround programme and was dealing with issues of technology and corruption.

The birth registration process had formerly been hindered by serious corruption from the public and Department of Home Affairs (DHA) officials. However, the introduction of the ID smart card would help curb the corruption as these cards would provide more security. These would be  piloted at the end of the year. Passports would also be improved.

The change of technology in the Department would ensure that birth, death and marriage certificates were issued on the same day as the application forms were submitted. The DHA was formerly notorious for its long queues. It had now set up call centres to shorten them as it has found that many people attended the offices merely to make queries. In order to ensure that the DHA was accessible to communities, the Department has put its officials at Thusong centres and also planned to have its own mobile units. To ensure accessibility and efficiency, it had proposed has proposed a tier approach and each tier of Regional offices, District offices, Thusong centres, and Mobile Units would provide the basic services of issuing birth and death certificates. DHA also sought to have officials at hospitals to ensure security and convenience. The Department also aimed to publicise online verification of identities so as to ensure that the correct details of an individual were captured.

As already mentioned, the Department was seeking to ensure that birth registration was done as early as possible, thus there had been trials at 101 hospitals to test the effectiveness of the system, and the Department would also embark on aggressive campaigns. It would further be developing a system where there would be two types of certificates - an abridged certificate issued on the spot, and an unabridged certificate that would include the details of the parents. The Department had also been conducting the “ID yourself” campaign in conjunction with the SABC, to ensure that all those of 16 years and older get their identity document as early as possible, and the mobile units made it easy for people to access IDs. Improvement on the process of issuing IDs had been made, with the time taken being shortened from 120 days to 47 days to date, which the Department was seeking to further improve.

To ensure that DHA was accessible to all South Africans, the Department had issued public information documents in braille and had made these available to the South African Council for the Blind. The offices of DHA were also to be improved to accommodate people with other physical disabilities.

Refugee children initiatives
Adv Busiswe Mkhwebane-Tshehla, Director: Refugee Affairs, DHA, stated that the DHA had a separate directorate on refugees, in an attempt to be effective and efficient as possible in managing asylum seekers and giving advice on refugee policy matters. The South African Refugee Act was rather liberal and often could result in practical problems. For instance, any individual could come and demand a refugee status at the reception offices, who were not entitled to turn that person away without giving full consideration to the demands, no matter what the circumstances. Currently there were five refugee-seeker reception offices and another had recently been opened in Musina, due to the influx of refugees from Zimbabwe.

Refugees had full legal rights, including all those rights under Chapter 2 of the Constitution. Refugee and asylum seekers were entitled to the same health care as all other South Africans, had the right to work and study, had access to disability grants from the State and children that were either born in South Africa (or had no pre-existing birth certificates) could get birth certificates, although these would reflect the country of origin of the refugee or asylum seeker. 

Discussion
Mr Gamede spoke of the issue of HIV orphans who were being looked after by their grandparents. He asked what the Department had in place to accommodate them.

Mr Mkhize, Acting Deputy Director General: Civic Services, DHA expressed that the Home Affairs tried not to be overly rigid when the grandparents wanted to access grants, but that the grandparents would be required to prove a link between them and the parents of the child. There were certain processes and procedures designed to avoid corruption and abductions. The challenge, however, was that many Africans would not approach the Courts to gain full legal guardianship but would assume the responsibility on their own in terms of their customary arrangements.

Mr Mavuso Msimang, Director General, DHA, said that the country primarily was seeking to manage risks. There were many people who sought citizenship in South Africa. Many had succeeded in doing so, and a number of these had been helped to get their citizenship by corrupt officials. The Department tried to reach a balance.

Mr Moss spoke about parents moving from one city to the next, and the challenges they faced when applying for birth certificates. He asked what the ‘sequence’ was for people coming from other parts of Africa and what status they were given first, and how they would proceed to acquire full citizenship rights. He noted that constituency offices could be used to distribute the information to the people.

Ms Mkhwebane-Tshehla said that there was a difference between asylum seekers and refugees, and South Africa followed the United Nations definition of an asylum seeker. A person seeking refuge in South Africa would first be regarded as an asylum seeker, and then as a refugee. After five years of refugee status the position would be reexamined. That person could, if he qualified, make application for permanent residence. After a further five years he could apply for citizenship.

The Chairperson asked if asylum seekers could study or work in South Africa while awaiting the outcome of their applications, and what would happen to those whose applications were not successful. She was concerned about trafficking of children, and asked if officials would check and verify that a person was indeed a guardian of a child. She asked how could trafficking be prevented.

Ms Mkhwebane-Tshehla said that the refugees and asylum seekers had a right to work and study, but it was difficult to manage the issue of trafficking as often it was understood that the people were fleeing their country, and it was not unusual that they would not be in possession of all documentation. Children of asylum seekers would be regarded as foreigners and not as South African.

Ms Bengu asked what would happen in the case of a person who had no hands and therefore could not be fingerprinted as a means of identification. She also asked how the DHA was obtaining accurate data on deaths, as often their relatives would not register deaths.

Mr Mkhize said that in the case of a person who could not give fingerprints, DHA would seek to use other means of identification, such as facial features. In regard to the death statistics, had noted that the DHA had a memorandum of understanding with Statistics SA, in terms of which a relationship of cooperation would be established. It was trying to obtain more concrete statistics. It was also working with traditional leaders to establish the correct position.

Mr Madella asked about the relationship between the DHA, Department of Justice and Department of Social Development in ensuring that the youth in prison had proper identification. He applauded the Director General and his team for the impressive work they were attempting to achieve, especially by revamping offices so that disabled people had access.

The Chairperson raised the issue of the increasing numbers of missing children. She asked if the DHA had any suggestions on how missing children should be identified, or whether any “tracking systems” were possible. She also asked what the import was of the abridged birth certificate.

Ms Mkhwebane-Tshehla said that the finger printing of children was previously rejected as a suggestion, but having that in place would help to identify missing children.

Mr Mkhize noted that youth in prison could apply to be issued with their IDs.

The meeting was adjourned.

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